March 14, 2012
A brief history of the project
The Murray M. Harris Company1
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. 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.
The David John Falconer Memorial Organ is a gift of The Ahmanson Foundation and from the Estate of Helen Parker
Murray M. Harris Company,1911, as originally installed in the old St. Paul's pro-Cathedral, Los Angeles, Ernest Douglas, organist.
GREAT ORGAN, 61 pipes, unenclosed
16' Double Open-Diapason
8' First Open Diapason
8' Second Open Diapason
8' Gamba
8' Viol d'Amour
8' Gemshorn (console preparation)
8' Dulciana (Choir duplex?)
8' Gross Flute
8' Doppel Flute
4' Octave
4' Harmonic Flute
22/3' Octave Quint (console preparation)
2' Super Octave (console preparation)
16' Trombone
8' Tuba (ext. Trombone)
4' Clarion (ext. Trombone)
SWELL ORGAN, 61 pipes
16' Bourdon
8' Open Diapason
8' Horn Diapason
8' Salicional
8' Vox Celeste
8' Dulciana (Choir duplex?)
8' Concert Flute
8' Stopped Diapason
4' Octave
4' Harmonic Flute
III Dolce Cornet
16' Contra Fagotto
8' Cornopean
8' Oboe
4' Clarion (ext. Cornopean)
CHOIR ORGAN, 61 pipes, enclosed
16' Double Dulciana
8' Open Diapason
8' Dulciana
8' Melodia
4' Flauto Traverso
2' Piccolo
8' Clarinet
8' Orchestral Oboe
16' Contra Fagotto (Swell)
8' Cornopean (Swell)
Harp
ECHO ORGAN, 61 pipes separately enclosed within Swell box, playable from Choir
8' Aeoline
8' Unda Maris
8' Vox Humana
Chimes
PEDAL ORGAN, 32 pipes
16' Open-Diapason
16' Violone
16' Bourdon
8' Violoncello
8' Flute
32' Bombarde (ext. Great Trombone)
16' Trombone (Great)
8' Tuba (Great)
Murray M. Harris Company, 1911. Renovation 1994-95: H.L. Schlicker Co., Buffalo, New York; Austin Organs, Inc., Hartford Connecticut.
GREAT ORGAN--41/2"; wind
16' Double Open-Diapason (H/A2)
8' First Open Diapason (H)
8' Second Open Diapason (H)
8' Gamba (W)
8' Gemshorn (K)
8' Gross Flute (H)
8' Doppel Flute (H)
4' Octave (H)
4' Harmonic Flute (H)
22/3' Octave Quint (A)
2' Super Octave (A)
III-V Harmonic Mixture (with tierce) (K/A)
IV Mixture (unison &-quint) (K/A)
V Cornet (mounted, g20 to g56) (A)
16' Double Trumpet (A)
8' Trumpet (A)
4' Clarion (A)
8' Solo Trumpet (Choir) (K/A)
8' Harmonic Tuba (Choir) (H)
Cymbelstern (bells)
SWELL ORGAN--41/2"; wind
16' Bourdon (H)
8' Open Diapason (H)
8' Horn Diapason (H)
8' Salicional (H)
8' Vox Celeste (from tenor c) (H)
8' Stopped Diapason (H)
4' Octave (H)
4' Open Flute (H)
22/3' Nasard (H/A1)
2' Harmonic Piccolo (H)
13/5' Tierce (H/A1)
III Dolce Cornet (H)
IV Mixture (K/A)
16' Contra Fagotto (H)
8' Cornopean (H)
8' Oboe (H)
8' Vox Humana (K)
4' Clarion (A)
Tremolo
ECHO--5"; wind
8' Viole Ætheria (K)
8' Voix céleste (K)
8' Cor de nuit (K)
4' Fernflöte (ext. Cor de nuit, K)
8' Vox Humana & Tremolo (K)
ECHO PEDAL--5"; wind
16' Echo Bourdon (ext. Cor de nuit) (K)
CHOIR ORGAN--41/2"; wind
16' Double Dulciana (from FFF) (H)
8' Open Diapason (H)
8' Melodia (H)
8' Dulciana (H)
8' Unda Maris (from tenor c) (H)
4' Fugara (K/A)
4' Harmonic Flute (H)
2' Flautina (A)
III Sharp Mixture (K/A)
8' Orchestral Oboe (H)
8' Clarinet (H)
Tremolo
8' Solo Trumpet (14"; wind) (K/A)
8' Harmonic Tuba (14"; wind) (H)
PEDAL ORGAN--51/4"; wind
16' Open-Diapason (H)
16' Violone (H/A2)
16' Bourdon (H)
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell) (H)
8' Octave (A)
8' Violoncello (H)
8' Flute (H)
4' Super Octave (A)
VI Mixture (31/5' optional, by reversible) (H/W/K/A)
32' Bombarde (ext. Tuba, 14"; wind) (H)
16' Trombone (ext. Tuba, 14"; wind) (H)
16' Fagotto (Swell) (H)
8' Tuba (Choir) (H)
4' Clarion (Choir) (H)
Legend:
H Original 1911 Murry M. Harris pipework.
A New Austin pipes based on Harris scales.
H/A1 Original Harris pipes reworked by Austin.
H/A2 New Austin pipes for the façade, incorporating elements of the original pipes. The interior portions are original.
K 1926 Kimball pipes installed in St. James'.
W Pipes from the Wangerin organ originally installed in St. Vibiana's Cathedral, Los Angeles.
K/A Partly or entirely composed of non-Kimball additions to St. James' 1926 Kimball organ, rebuilt and revoiced by Austin.
Electronic Registers:
Choir
16' Dulciana (notes 1-5)
Pedal
32' Bourdon 32' Lieblich Gedeckt
Percussions
Harp
Chimes
