A brief history of the project
The Murray M. Harris Company
Murray M. Harris (1866-1922) is generally regarded as the
Father of Organ Building in the West. Born in Illinois, Murray Harris moved with
his family to Los Angeles in 1884. In 1889, Murray Harris relocated to Boston
to receive his training in organbuilding with George S. Hutchings, at that time
one of the nation's premier organ builders. Harris returned to Los Angeles in
1894 both to represent and install Hutchings organs and to establish his own
organbuilding business. After a few short-lived partnerships, he formed his own
firm Murray M. Harris Organ Company in 1898.2
Fame and business soon came Murray Harris' way, and in 1900
he was able to attract a talented band of craftsmen from the East coast to help
him build better organs. This group included several famous organbuilders,
among them William Boone Fleming. Together these gentlemen revolutionized the
mechanism of the Murray Harris organ; the craftsmanship exhibited extraordinary
attention to detail, and the voicing produced an ensemble in step with the
orchestrally-inspired tastes of the day, but with an energy and drama all too
rarely encountered.3 Murray M. Harris himself imparted a coveted tonal
signature. His stature as the builder of some of the finest organs available in
North America brought the company many contracts, among them the organ of
three-manuals and thirty-five speaking stops for the First Methodist Episcopal
Church, Los Angeles. In 1901 he was awarded a contract for an instrument of
forty-six speaking stops for Stanford University's Memorial Church.4
From this prestigious beginning, the company grew rapidly,
securing the contract for the Louisiana Exposition organ (St. Louis World's
Fair) of 1904. At the time, this was the largest organ in the world, with one
hundred and forty stops (it would later become the nucleus of the organ in the
John Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia). Due to cost overruns and litigation, the project spiraled out of control, and the board of directors deposed Murray Harris as president of his own company. He severed all ties with the company, and for the next three years worked as an investment broker. The Board of Directors changed the company name to Los Angeles Art Organ Company.
In 1906, Harris re-entered organ-building with the help of
one of his former workmen, Edwin Spencer, under the name Murray M. Harris
Company. Based upon a different type of wind-chest (sometimes built of pine, at
other times redwood), the instruments from this era continued to exhibit the
same marvelous tonal qualities of the earlier work, and in some cases exceeded
them.
The new firm continued to build organs until 1912. In that
year Murray Harris returned to the investment world; he died in 1922 while on a
business trip to Arizona. However, the former Murray Harris craftsmen continued
to work through 1930, first as Johnston Organ Company, then as the California
Organ Company, and finally as the Robert-Morton Organ Company, becoming
prominent in both church and theater organs. The company continued to employ
many of the Harris concepts, scales and voicing techniques. The Robert-Morton
Organ Company's magnum opus was the four-manual organ for Bovard Auditorium at
the University of Southern California.
The organ for St. Paul's pro-Cathedral
One of the last large organs Murray Harris built was for St.
Paul's pro-Cathedral in Los Angeles. This edifice was built in 1889 as St.
Paul's Church, the largest Episcopal church in the city, located on Pershing
Square in downtown Los Angeles (the current site of the Biltmore Hotel). With
the 1895 election of Joseph Horsfall Johnson as the first bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, St. Paul's was elevated to pro-Cathedral.
In 1906 Ernest Douglas, Mus.D., F.A.G.O., was appointed
organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's. Douglas was a Bostonian, a fine
musician and a product of distinguished organ education, having studied with Samuel B. Whitney in Boston, Sir Frederick Bridge at Westminster Abbey London and with Franz Xavier Scharwenka in Berlin. His arrival at St. Paul's marked a distinct improvement in the music program, making the lack of a suitable organ all the more glaring.
At long last, a contract was signed with Murray M. Harris
& Company in July 1910 for a new three-manual organ of forty-one speaking
stops; the price was $12,500. Several features would distinguish the new
instrument: concrete swell boxes and a movable console (both trademarks of the
notorious English organbuilder Robert Hope-Jones); the doubly-enclosed Echo,
playable on the Choir but enclosed within the Swell box; the duplexing of the
Swell reeds to the Choir manual for added flexibility; harp and chimes; and the
provision of a 32' Bombarde, the first such stop to be installed in Los
Angeles.5 The organ was scheduled for delivery before Christmas 1910, but
appears not to have been ready until the following spring.
Los Angeles was growing at an unprecedented rate with
churches and organbuilding prospering as a result. The Cathedral was no
exception, and by 1920 the congregation had grown sufficiently to warrant a new
edifice. On January 31, 1922, Douglas played a final recital on the Murray
Harris in its first home; the program was entirely of his own works. The organ
was then placed in storage with
the intention that it would be installed in the new Cathedral. Old St. Paul's
was razed later that year, and the new St. Paul's simple, elegant building in
Spanish style was consecrated as the Cathedral in 1924, like its predecessor
one of the largest Episcopal churches in the region.
Fortunately, the new building possessed superb acoustics;
unfortunately, the architects had not provided adequate space or tonal egress
for the existing instrument. In charge of the organ installation was Stanley
Williams, who had worked with Harris in 1911 and had voiced the organ
originally. Williams was now representing the Chicago organbuilding firm of W.
W. Kimball, and thus the Harris organ was provided with a new Kimball console
which contained a number of stop preparations. Williams' only change to the
instrument was to move the Swell Concert Flute into the Echo organ. Otherwise,
the organ remained intact and the Kimball preparations never materialized.
(Also interesting to note, Stanley Williams sold the 1926 Kimball organ to St.
James' Church, Wilshire Boulevard.)
During the years when Frank K. Owen was Organist/Choirmaster
(1953-1974), the organ was well cared for. His admiration and fondness for the
instrument assured the preservation and enhancement of the character of the
original work. He facilitated the replacement of the Kimball console with an
Æolian-Skinner console, the installation of an antiphonal organ, the addition of two mixtures, as well as some other minor tonal changes. However, under another organist in 1975-76, a series of changes were made in an attempt to keep the organ abreast of current tastes in organ tone including the
transposition of ranks to higher pitches and the swapping of stops with the
Estey organ in the chapel. Fortunately, all except two original ranks of pipes
were to be found stored in the chambers.6
When in 1976 Mrs. Carol Foster was appointed organist and
choirmaster, she became determined to see the organ restored as its condition
was dismal; only the Great 32' Tuba unit, the added mixtures on their own
chests and the Antiphonal functioned with reasonable reliability. From 1977 to
1979 the organ was in the care of Manuel Rosales and the late David Dickson;
they could do no more than to keep the reeds in tune and chase after the
incessant ciphers. A meeting with Bishop Robert C. Rusack yielded a promise to
form a committee which would investigate the possibility either of significant
repairs or a revamping of the instrument on new slider chests (the plan
ultimately followed at St. James')7. Unfortunately, the committee took no real
interest nor further action.
In late 1979 the Bishop announced, to the great dismay of
the Cathedral community, that the building would be razed, apparently due to
structural and safety considerations. The Cathedral property was quickly sold,
and an urgency developed to evacuate the premises as quickly as possible.8 The
organ played its final service on Christmas Eve, 1979.
When no plans were announced to save the organ, the
furnishings or any of the Cathedral's architectural treasures, Mrs. Foster,
Dickson and Rosales once again submitted a proposal to the Bishop to find
suitable storage for the organ and to remove it and whatever else could be
salvaged of the building's interior appointments. Bishop Rusack accepted this
proposal. Of the organ, all the pipes, the chest for the Tuba unit, the
bellows, the console, the antiphonal section and its casework, and the chapel organ were removed. Since the main
windchests were of redwood with ventil stop action, and had suffered from
alteration and poor maintenance, it was decided not to save them.9 & 10
For the decade-long period in which the Murray Harris organ
was in storage, some members of the Cathedral corporation searched for ways to
dispose of the instrument.11 Several suggestions were considered, including
donating it to a theater, a stadium, even the Hollywood Bowl. Eventually, the
Cathedral corporation consulted Manuel Rosales, who suggested that another
church in Los Angeles should be the first choice.
A new home at St. James' on Wilshire Boulevard
Concurrently with the Diocese's decision to dispose of the
Murray Harris, St. James' Episcopal Church in the mid-Wilshire section of Los
Angeles was beginning to realize that their 1926 Kimball was beyond reasonable
restoration. By 1980 it had undergone the kind of tonal changes that the
Cathedral organ had, but with so much of the original pipework discarded that
the original character could not be recaptured. At that point the Diocese then
approached St. James' and offered the Murray Harris at no cost.12
Realizing that this instrument could meet the needs of St.
James' parish, David John Falconer, organist and choirmaster, became keenly
interested in the project and obtained approval to seek funding. He had been
exploring a variety of options when he approached the Ahmanson Foundation,
whose grants director Lee Walcott invited him to submit a proposal. Sadly, Dr.
Falconer was killed in an attempted robbery April 22, 1994.13
The Ahmanson Foundation chose to fund the project, and the
Schlicker Organ Company of Buffalo, New York, was selected to perform the work.
David Dickson, who knew and loved the Murray Harris organ, was at that time
Schlicker's artistic director.
Concurrent with the developing plans for the organ, St.
James' decided to improve the Church's acoustics. Eventually, all
asbestos-laden fiberglass was removed from the clerestory, and the plaster on
the walls was increased in thickness, with particular attention paid to the
chancel surfaces.14
A plan was developed which involved incorporating all of the
existing Murray Harris pipework, its bellows and the 1926 Kimball Echo organ,
blower, and two ranks of pipes. To increase the tonal palette, the plan
included adding sixteen stops in the Murray Harris style. The instrument would
also require new slider wind chests, expression boxes and a state-of-the-art
console. Although this would result in essentially a new working mechanism for
the organ, the tonal character of the Murray M. Harris organ would be retained
and enhanced.
The rear gallery, as a place of installation, was ruled out
due to lack of space. It was decided to enlarge the front organ chambers by
adding cantilevered decorative cases, thus creating additional space and
improved egress of sound.
During the organ's re-construction phase, the project has
seen several changes. The Schlicker Organ Company began by designing new slider
wind-chests and a console; eventually, they would accomplish all of the
mechanical work. Some delays occurred, including the untimely early death of
David Dickson in 1991. The project was revived in 1993 when Austin Organs, Inc.
became principal contractor. Under the revised plan, Austin would oversee the
project and take charge of all voicing and pipework, while Schlicker, under the
direction of J. Stanton Peters, would remain in charge of the mechanical
aspects, console and installation. David A.J. Broome, Tonal Director of Austin
Organs, collaborated with Manuel Rosales on the scaling and voicing of the
added pipework, with Broome taking charge of artistic direction at the Austin
factory. The Austin Organ Company pipe shop and voicers are to be commended for
their excellent workmanship and care in the restoration and tonal finishing of
the pipework.
The organ arrived at St. James' in April of 1995, with
on-site installation performed by Schlicker personnel. Tonal finishing began in
August, under Austin's Assistant Tonal Director Daniel Kingman assisted by
Christopher Smith of Schlicker. In the final weeks of the finishing, reed
voicer Zoltan Zsitvay of Austin joined Mr. Kingman. Manuel Rosales and Rosales
Organ Builders supported and assisted throughout the installation and tonal
finishing.
In its present home, the revised and enlarged Murray M.
Harris organ displays its original character as well as an enhanced presence in
St. James' pleasant acoustics. The organ possesses clear and unforced Diapason
tone with a bountiful collection of unison colors. The Great chorus is bold and well defined. The Swell and
Choir chorus are each appropriately softer and make excellent accompaniment
divisions. The chorus reeds are
likewise varied in strength also making beautiful solo stops. The stops created
by Austin Organs were designed and voiced using examples and scales from other
Harris instruments, except for the Cornet V which is appropriately patterned
after a stop in the Metropolitan Cathedral, Mexico City. The entire ensemble is
underpinned by the original 32' Contra Bombarde whose low CCCC pipe is two feet
across!
The completed instrument was dedicated to the memory of
David John Falconer on November 5th, All Saints' Day, at a festival service
with The Right Reverend Frederick H. Borsch, Bishop of Los Angeles, presiding,
and The Reverend Kirk Stevan Smith, Ph.D., Rector assisting.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Organist & Choirmaster James P.
Buonemani was assisted by Associate Organist David McVey.
Australian David Drury of the University of Sidney performed
the opening concert. His program featured works of Saint-Saëns, Mozart,
Widor, Jongen, Jackson, Hakim and an improvisation on two submitted themes. Mr.
Drury's artistry and imagination well exhibited the varied resources of the
instrument.
Eighty-four years since the organ's construction, and
sixteen years since its removal from St. Paul's Cathedral, the cultural
community of Los Angeles celebrates a voice from the past which was created in
our city and now sounds forth again with restored majesty.
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