Announcing the Gift
A Newly Built, Classic Tracker Pipe Organ for Calvary Church
It is with great thanksgiving to God, that we announce the gift of a new organ for Calvary. A
faithful Calvary family, who have been members here for the past two decades and active in the
music ministry of Calvary, have generously stepped forward to offer this needed gift. It is given to
the Glory of God and in loving memory of Chandler McIvor, a beloved family member who died
this past year. Last summer, the Vestry responded to this offer of a new organ by appointing an
organ committee to study options and to bring back a recommendation. In December, the vestry
voted to enter into a contract for this new organ.
The new organ, designed and built specifically for Calvary
Church, will be of the finest quality and artistic design.
After months of researching the finest organ builders in
America, field trips to see, hear, and play numerous
instruments, and extensive discussions with organ builders
and organists, the Calvary Organ Committee has chosen
the organ-building firm of
Richards, Fowkes & Co. to build
Calvary Church’s wonderful new
instrument, their Opus XXIII.
Richards-Fowkes at St Bede’s, Atlanta
The organ building methods and techniques used by the Richards-Fowkes Co. are based on
historical research and methods dating back to 1320. The organ will be fully mechanical i.e.
‘tracker’ action. This means that the organist has the most physical and artistic control of each
sound that is produced by the instrument. Quite simply, each key on the keyboard is directly linked
by a mechanical connection to each pipe in the organ. As is the case with a finely crafted wooden
boat, everything in this instrument will be hand-crafted by a few highly-skilled artisans. This
includes all cabinetry, tonal design (the unique sound of each pipe), all metal castings of pipes,
visual design, and mechanical design.
1320 organ in Sion, Switzerland
The Richards-Fowkes Co. is currently one of
the premier builders in United States and
abroad. They have recently been acclaimed
for their new organ built for the church of St
George, Hanover Square in London, UK.
They are the first American organ-building
firm to be commissioned to build a substantial instrument in a
prominent European city. The Richards-Fowkes Co. understands the
importance of the organ’s role in serving the liturgy of the church and
supporting congregational singing. This will be fully realized in the
Richards-Fowkes in London
design and sound of the new organ for Calvary. They visited Calvary
Church to experience our worship and evaluate our acoustics before making their proposal. For
more information, see their website at http://www.richardsfowkes.com.
Current Wicks
The Wicks Organ Company of Highland, IL built the current organ in
Organ
the choir loft of Calvary Church in 1964. If you look at the history of
organs in Calvary Church, the current organ is the fourth instrument to
reside in the choir loft. The dates of each organ show the installation
of a new organ approximately every 40 years. This illustrates that each
of the organs, including the current
Wicks organ, that has been at Calvary
has had a relatively short lifespan. This is due to the lesser quality of
materials used and limited design. The hand-crafted, quality
workmanship of Richards-Fowkes will guarantee that the new organ
for Calvary will last for more than a century. If we look to the great
organs built in Europe over the centuries with these same historic
techniques, we can see that most have been standing and playing for
several hundred years.
Richards-Fowkes keyboards
The new organ will enrich and
deepen our worship of Almighty God. Also, it will be a wonderful
addition to the broader musical life at Calvary. Organ recitals will
be given by resident and guest organists and recordings will be
made on the instrument. The new Richards-Fowkes organ
promises to significantly enhance Calvary Church’s identity and
reputation as a place for inspirational worship and as a venue for
musical excellence.
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Richards-Fowkes keyboard detail
Why does Calvary need this new organ?
First, this generous gift responds to an increasingly pressing need: Our current “Wicks”
electric-action pipe organ is failing and in need of replacement. Built in 1964, it was one of
hundreds of mass-produced organs installed in churches across America during that decade. It was
intended to have a life-expectancy of approximately 40 years, so the fact that it has served us for
more than 50 is reason to be thankful (it did receive a $90K overhaul during the mid-90s
Restoration of Calvary Church). Increasingly, though, it has a number of problems. Alan McNeely,
the Wicks Company authorized repairman who has cared for this organ more than 30 years, says we
can count on increasingly more difficult and expensive repairs as each year passes. Across the
country, these models are being removed from churches, and have little or no residual value. This
providentially timed gift will address an emerging long-term expense.
Second, we have a crying need for more seating in the balcony. The current electric-action
organ takes up most of the space in the choir loft. This new classic mechanical tracker organ not
only has a better sound, but also a much smaller “footprint.” As a result, the available seating in the
balcony will almost triple! Our choir continues to grow. However, with the current organ, the
reasonable seating capacity for adult choir members in the balcony is only 14. Something needed to
be done to provide more seating.
This past year, our choirmaster tried dividing the choir in two for various Sundays, but that
proved difficult and unpopular. Next, with the encouragement of the Rector, he tried seating the
choir in the front of the Nave. However, while many members liked it, there were others who found
it disruptive and strongly opposed that. Therefore, many began dreaming of having more seating in
the balcony. Adding seats in the loft would mean that we don’t have to turn away people who want
to serve God by singing in the choir. The new organ will have a much smaller footprint—
essentially, it is shaped something like the top half of an hourglass. As a result, we will be able
reasonably to seat 34 adult choir members in a configuration where they can see the music director
sitting on the organ bench. (It will also allow sufficient space for the Hand Bell Choir to perform
from the balcony rather than from tables at the front of the Nave.)
The other time we so desperately need additional seating is for an increasing number of
large funerals and weddings, when we have been forced to move some worshipers over to the Parish
Hall to participate by remote television. Reasonable seating in the loft for funerals and weddings
should allow perhaps 40 persons. Since the new organ will be much lighter than the old, we
anticipate this will be possible without unreasonable structural changes, although such matters will
be determined by structural engineers during the construction phase.
A third advantage of this organ is not simply that it will be a much superior instrument
musically, but that it will be much more historically authentic to our beautiful Upjohn-designed
church (one builder commented that this will be more like the instrument the great architect would
have expected to find here). Another committee member put it this way: “this classic tracker organ
(not unlike the century-old one in the balcony of the United Church in Stonington) is the equivalent
of an authentic, hand built, classic wooden boat that will last more than our lifetime”—a description
that perhaps communicates well in this seaside setting.
How did this gift come about?
In late Spring, Alix Van Rees came to the Rector with a desire to make a significant
memorial gift in loving memory of her recently deceased brother, Chandler McIvor. Chan was a
great humanitarian with compassion for all God’s people, and a deep love of beauty and art. The
Rector talked about a variety of gift opportunities. However, since Alix and Neal have been faithful
choir members for many years, they knew firsthand the real needs upstairs in the church, so Alix
made this generous offer! Then, Neal also graciously offered a supporting gift for the organ. It is
given in memory of his father, Cornelius R. Van Rees, who was a noted organist in New York City
for many years, serving as Minister of Music at The Baptist Temple for 38 years.
Another supporting gift has been made in memory of Rudolph J. Schaefer, III by his wife
Jane and family. Rudi was a Calvary member who loved great organ music and enjoyed playing the
organ himself. Their gift of the 16’ Posaune (or, “Trombone”) rank of pipes will form the bass
anchor for congregational singing and performance.
A supporting gift has also been made in memory of Dorothy M. Davis, by her husband
Edward and daughter, Candy Sanford. In the 1980’s and early 90’s Dorothy was a faithful member
of the Calvary Choir. This gift in memory of DeeDee, who loved the music of Calvary, will also
help refurbish the choir loft as well as provide for the organ installation.
A further supporting gift for the organ has been given by Irene and Charles Hamm for the
Oboe rank of pipes. Their hope is that this new instrument would also be used to reach out to the
larger community with educational and enrichment programs--especially to youth, introducing them
to a broad spirituality that can be communicated through music and art.
At a called Vestry meeting last July, the vestry climbed the stairs and sat uncomfortably
crowded in the balcony choir loft. There, they experienced the need and learned of the generous
offer, the donors remaining anonymous at that point. There was enthusiasm that this gift could solve
several needs at once, so a motion to move forward with gratefully accepting the gift was approved
by vote. An organ selection committee was appointed, consisting of Shirley Wick, Alisa Storrow,
Neal and Alix Van Rees, Lois Cole, Shawn Cabral and Joseph Ripka. Over the summer and into the
fall, they visited about 20 organs in many churches and universities spread over 5 states, driving
many hundreds of miles as they did so. They received proposals from six premier organ builders,
four of whom made site visits to Calvary.
By late October all of the recommendations were in place for final action by the Vestry. The
committee unanimously recommended Richards, Fowkes & Co. The church Treasurer, Finance
Committee Chair and Finance committee, and the Vestry Executive Committee reviewed the
proposal favorably. The donor family also endorsed the recommendations and the gift was made. At
its November meeting, the Vestry and organ committee learned for the first time who the
anonymous donors were. Additional “due diligence” work was undertaken on the contract and
consultations with structural engineers, historic building contractors, codes, etc. Finally, the Vestry
voted to move forward, and we are underway on a wonderful pilgrimage by God’s Grace.
Music Director Joseph Ripka and the committee will offer a series of educational programs
for parish members (as was made available in recent months to Vestry members), to introduce you
to the intricacies of this wonderful instrument to be built. A number of people have already gone
with Joey over to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Niantic where there is a classic tracker organ in
the choir loft—there we were able to learn more about the how these historic instruments work, and
to see how significantly more room can be gained in the balcony with this smaller “footprint.”
The introductory presentation for our congregation will be this Sunday January 12th,
at 11:30 AM, in the Calvary Church with a detailed power-point presentation.
One final moving footnote, with the thought of resurrection in mind for our current Wicks
organ: Our Wicks repairman, Alan McNeely, has a passion these days for helping small or
struggling churches find a way to have a real organ. He will disassemble and remove our current
organ at no cost to us, salvage a number of usable parts to combine with those from similar models
he is currently removing elsewhere, and then rebuild them into one healthy model. That recombined
pipe organ will then be made available to a growing, largely Hispanic, Episcopal congregation in
Central Florida who has been hoping for an organ but unable to afford one. What a wonderful way
for us to Pass Along the blessing we have received!
Anticipated Time line for the organ project…
Late Spring 2014: First glimpses of case drawings for the new Calvary Organ
Summer 2014: Current Wicks organ removed (after July 4th performance); balcony construction begins
Early 2015: Pipe Casting in the Richards-Fowkes shop begins
Mid 2015: Organ Construction begins in the shop
Spring 2016: The new Calvary Organ is playable in the builder’s shop—(then, disassembled for transport)
Mid-2016: Delivery to and installation in Calvary Church
FAQ: Why does it take so long? A completely hand-made organ of this quality takes a small crew in the
organ shop approximately 9 months to build. There are also two contracts ahead of the Calvary organ in the
production schedule. The first, a 9-stop residence organ, and the second, a 55-stop church organ for Village
Presbyterian Church in Kansas City—a massive instrument.
What do we use for worship in the meantime? Calvary will use a digital organ in the interim. The
instrument makes similar sounds heard on a pipe organ, the main difference being that the sound comes out
of speakers rather than real pipes. This is standard practice for most new organ projects.
Organ Installation Committee: The Vestry appointed Bill Rutherford as Team Leader (his career was
construction/project management), Frederick Ball, Shirley Wick, and Jr. Warden Shawn Cabral. They will be
supported in this oversight task by staff members Joseph Ripka and Alfred Tisdale+. Currently Bill and
Alfred+ are serving as “owner’s representatives” with the builder.