The organs of the National Shrine, past and present
The Nave South Gallery Organ and the Chancel West Gallery Organ of the Upper Church, installed in 1965 by M. P. Möller (Op. 9702) were the gifts of Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, the Catholic Chaplains and military personnel of the United States in honor of the deceased chaplains and members of the armed forces. The installation of these instruments was the culmination of a dream that began more than fifty years before. In 1911, then-Msgr. Shahan, 4th Rector of The Catholic University of America and the future founder of the National Shrine, was pleading his cause for the construction of a new University chapel, albeit a "chapel" of considerable size and grandeur. Among the reasons listed for this new structure was the need for a "suitable space for the teaching and practice of ecclesiastical music, so much insisted on by [Pope] Pius X." The "chapel," in fact, was to be "a beautiful National Shrine" located on the University grounds. Shahan's vision for the Shrine was not only that of a place of worship and devotion but also one of education and "a monument to artistic truth."
Instruments of the Crypt Church I
Following the dedication of the cornerstone in 1920, it would be another four years before the first public Mass would be celebrated in the Crypt Church (24 April 1924). Amid the grime and noise of construction, which lasted another three years, worship services were held with continuing regularity, replete with all the grandeur and spectacle that a construction site could muster.
From the beginning, music was a vital and treasured component of worship at the Shrine. An organ was in use as early as 1924. Photographs from 19 April 1924 reveal the presence of a small harmonium. Another picture from September of that same year shows a different instrument with a "pipe display"--rather attractive--seated on top. This reed organ remained in use for at least one year, as verified by photographs from the spring of 1925. In November of that year, yet another harmonium is pictured. There are no records--at least at this writing--that address the rental and/or purchase of these instruments, further compounding the incertitude of their pedigree and history.
Sometime between 1927 and 1932, the Hall Organ Company of West Haven, Connecticut installed a two-manual pipe organ with the console in the southwest corner of the Crypt Church, a section that the architects referred to as "the Choir of Angels." Evidence as to the existence of this instrument is found in a bill dated 9 November 1932, which indicates that Hall accepted a "reed organ" as a credit ($350) towards the new organ, the total cost of which was $5,629.75.
In 1933-1934, yet another organ, a Vox Organo, by Musical Research Products, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was installed. This instrument, donated in honor of Bishop Thomas J. Shahan, founder of the Shrine, remained in use for the next three decades. This four-manual organ retained the Great, Swell, and the two pedal 16' flues of the Hall instrument, adding new Choir and Solo divisions and five additional Pedal stops in a matching façade at the southeast corner of the Crypt nave, at a cost of $12,444.60. Firmin Swinnen, private organist of Pierre S. Dupont and the University of Delaware, performed the dedication recital on 7 June 1934. It was reported that a "generous and varied program of selections" by Franck, Bach, Schumann, Schubert, Palmgren, Mc-Amis, Widor, and Dvorak was performed.
On Sunday afternoon 24 October 1937, Marcel Dupré made his Washington debut on the Vox Organo. This program included the recital debut of his daughter, Mlle. Marguerite Dupré, pianist, who was billed as the "companion artist." The concert was held under the auspices of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Construction of the Upper Church
Construction of the Shrine came to a halt with the completion of the entire lower level in 1933 and the onset of economic hardship. It was not until after World War II that thoughts of building again began to surface. In the fall of 1953, the beginning of the Marian Year to commemorate the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the American bishops announced their plan to erect the Upper Church and complete the construction of the National Shrine. A nationwide appeal for $8 million in building funds was begun, which featured nationwide televised talks and appeals by prominent church historians and bishops.
The following year, on 15 November, the first day of a two-day convocation marking the closing of the Marian Year, Most Reverend Patrick A. O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, representing the members of the American hierarchy, blessed the resumption of construction on the National Shrine.
Planning the Upper Church organs
As the superstructure inched skyward, logistics for the day of dedication were a topic of much discussion. As early as 8 December 1958, it was publicized that the Upper Church was to have a "$250,000 pipe organ, one of the largest in the country." Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, wrote that he began soliciting funds as early as 1953 and had already collected almost half of the amount. Ever the optimist, Spellman hoped to have the organ installed in time for the dedication. On that Friday morning, 20 November 1959, dawn broke revealing a Baldwin electronic organ, Model 10A, and five tone cabinets, Model Q, in the sanctuary of the National Shrine.
Spellman's dream instrument of ten major divisions occupying two general locations, with the major portion installed in the sanctuary and the remaining "musical adornments" in the south gallery, was still on the boards. As in life, "location" is everything, even in the church. Thus, a special committee was convened to address this topic. Included among its members were Messrs. Gammons and St. George, organ consultants. In the committee minutes of 30 June 1961, Mr. St. George stated that they did not support the idea of a divided organ in two tribunals of the chancel. Fr. Selner of the Theological College, who was not a member of the committee, along with committee members Fr. Russell Woollen, a composer and teacher of liturgical music and director of the choir at the university, and Dr. Conrad Bernier, teacher and university organist, strongly opposed the installation of a two-tribunal organ, citing their "annoying" experience with the Vox Organo in the Crypt Church. In the end, it was decided that there be an "organ adequate for liturgical and choir purposes" in the sanctuary and a grand orgue in the south gallery. Among the marginalia of these meetings, it was noted that a resident music program (music director, organists, and choir) had never been discussed but would be essential to the Shrine's success.
Organ builder and design consultants named
M. P. Möller, Inc., of Hagerstown, Maryland, won the bid to build the organ. Mr. Edward B. Gammons and Mr. Paul St. George, organ consultants to architects Maginnis, Walsh and Kennedy, designed the instrument (chancel and gallery) along with John H. Hose of Möller. This instrument was "international" in its composition, including Bolivian tin pipe alloys, treated German leathers, Spanish Pontifical Trumpet made of bronze(!), keys of genuine ivory and ebony and enough electrical wiring running the 325 ft. from console to console and inside the instruments, that if stretched end to end would reach from New York to San Francisco and beyond.
The organ (chancel and gallery) weighed in at 116,500 pounds; the largest wood pipe (low C of the 32' Contre Bourdon), which contained 230 board feet of lumber, weighed 520 pounds. The largest metal pipe, 32 feet in length (37 feet including the pipe foot and the tuning extension at the top) weighed 825 pounds; the smallest had a sounding length of 3/8 of an inch. The organ was more than three years in the building and at various times more than 400 people participated in its manufacture. The fine tuning and voicing of the organ was completed by mid-November 1964.
It was heralded as "unique" and built "specifically to meet the physical and liturgical requirements of the building." The size of the building, which gives a feeling of "spaciousness," has a reverberation that can last as long as five seconds. The great distances were precisely one of the reasons for placing a smaller organ in the chancel.
1965 dedication, 1972 Messiaen premiere
On 25 April 1965, this leviathan of an instrument was aroused from its "silent waiting." Accordingly, Dr. Charles M. Courboin, St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, played the initial concert prior to the dedication Mass that was celebrated by Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York. That evening Robert F. Twynham, organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore, performed. The dedicatory festivities continued through Sunday, 2 May, with performances by Frederick Swann, The Riverside Church, New York, on Thursday; and Berj Zamkochian, organist of the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops Orchestras, on Sunday.
Möller Opus 9702 was a "thoughtful combination of several traditions in organ building." In 1983, Olivier Messiaen who had in 1972 performed the world premiere of his Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité on the south gallery organ, remarked that it was a "very special instrument with typical American flutes, gedackts, celeste stops, etc., but with a neobaroque positiv, for example, a Cromorne, Piccolo, Larigot, etc.--very pretty. I enjoyed myself very greatly at it, and I had the sound palettes of the 19th and 18th centuries simultaneously at my disposal. As well as that, there were 'Spanish trumpets'--I used them two or three times. An overpowering effect, which really knocks the listeners flat." [See The Diapason, March 1989, T. Tikker, "The Organs of Olivier Messiaen, Part 4: Organs in America" for source of this, and for other quotations from Messiaen's remembrances of the premiere, in preparation for which he had spent ten eight-hour days at the organ, selecting registrations and practicing.]
Instruments of the Crypt Church II
By this time, the Vox Organo of 1934 had endured the water, soot, dust, and pounding of five years of construction. The instrument had faithfully served the Crypt but was beyond repair. The Shrine, now being "organ rich," dismantled the Vox and replaced it with the Baldwin--also in the southwest corner--that had served the Upper Church since 1959. By the 1970s, however, the Crypt was again in need of an instrument. Planning for a new organ began in 1983. Four years later, the Schudi, Opus 38, was dedicated in the Crypt Church. This instrument stands in contrast to those in the Upper Church. It is an historically-based German Baroque instrument with a modified tonal design of the master organ-builder Gottfried Silbermann--contemporary, colleague and friend of J. S. Bach. During the construction and installation of the Schudi, a 2-manual moveable Positiv cabinet organ, built by Möller (Op. 11671, 1984), was used in the Crypt. After the installation of the Schudi, it was relocated to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the Upper Church, from whence it can be moved to the chancel for use as continuo instrument.
Recordings and recitals
The "marvelous art of Archimedes" affords the performer so many tonal effects, "so many combinations." Accordingly, numerous recordings have been made on these instruments. Included among them are: 1967, Maurice and Madeleine Chevalier Duruflé, the chancel and gallery organs in solo and duo, re-released in 1999 as a CD (Gothic); 1969, Tenth Anniversary of the Dedication of the Upper Church: A Solemn Mass for Peace, composed for the occasion by Jean Langlais, Organist of the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris, recorded live; 1971, a two-record album by Marilyn Mason; 1979, Gunther Kaunzinger, César Franck: Das Orgel-werk; 1992, Frederick Swann, The Mystic Organ; 1995, Robert Grogan, Times and Seasons, liturgical organ music by 20th-century composers, and In Dulci Jubilo, Christmas music for organ; 2001, Peter Latona, An Organ Pilgrimage, music performed on all four of the pipe organs of the Basilica.
Among the many recitalists who have graced the consoles at the Shrine and signed the guest book are: E. Power Biggs, Frederick Swann, Simon Pres-ton, Flor Peeters, Virgil Fox, Daniel Roth (who was Artist-in-Residence at the National Shrine during his two years as head of the Catholic University of America organ department, succeeded by Gunther Kaunzinger in the same appointments), Gillian Weir (who returned with the BBC to record Messiaen's complete organ works), Pierre Cochereau, and Philippe Lefebvre of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Renovation plans and selection of builder
After thirty-five years of service, these organs displayed significant signs of wear and increasing mechanical problems. The musicians of the Basilica saw in this the opportunity not only to remedy the mechanical deterioration of the instrument, but an opportunity to make desirable modifications to the overall tonal design of the instrument. A product of its time, the instrument's flue pipes were relatively small in scaling given the immensity of the upper church. While the Pedal and Bombarde divisions have always been effective in filling out the bottom and crowning the top of the ensemble sound, the foundational stops never quite seemed to carry their own weight. Consequently, planning for strategic repairs and renovations began. Seven qualified firms were approached for proposals and recommendations for the project, and of these, Goulding & Wood, Indianapolis, was eventually selected to prepare, in consultation with the musicians of the National Shrine, a master plan for the complete renovation and augmentation of both instruments.
The Nave South Gallery Organ reconstruction project had first taken physical shape, in fact, with the commissioning of a marble sculpture (The Universal Call to Holiness) for the south wall of the nave, where the two wind-chests of the organ's Rückpositiv division were located. Once removed from the wall, these two chests were first moved experimentally to the floor level of the organ gallery, to either side of the console, then removed from the building to the Goulding & Wood factory in Indianapolis to be reconstructed as two separable divisions, with new electro-pneumatic slider chests1 and installed into the main body of the organ on the same pipework level as the other divisions of the organ, at the left and right "front corners." This relocation of the Positives required modifications to the original façade.
The initial designs for the new façade by Goulding & Wood, as well as those submitted by other organ builders, were viewed as not in total harmony with the architecture and design of the Basilica, and new artistic concepts were solicited. At this time Philip Klais (Klais Orgelbau, Bonn) was engaged as design consultant for the project.
Klais emphasized the importance of preserving the character of the original design and discouraged the addition of any casework around the façade pipes. Theoretically, casework aids in sound projection. This however, was not the case with the Möller, which has two divisions (Swell and Choir) located in chambers behind the Great and Bombarde pipework. Klais further pointed out that the weakest element in the organ's original design, from an aesthetic perspective, was the lack of visual tension in the center of the façade, evidenced by the amount of empty space beneath the great rose window. The determination was then made to accent the height rather than the width of the façade and to leave the pipes free of casework. After several "brainstorming" proposals, a final design concept was approved.
The new design concept was given to Goulding & Wood to make the necessary modifications demanded by their intimate knowledge of the instrument. Although it may have been rather unorthodox having two firms involved in the same project, Thomas Wood and John Goulding worked well in concert with their German colleague. As recommended, wood cases were omitted and the façade pipework outline was significantly modified to provide space for the installation of the new Positive divisions. A new rank of pipes at 211/3' forms two additional peaks located on either side of the rose window creating the 64' resultant. Two smaller peaks located in the center beneath the window are made up of the 8' Principal and Diapason ranks of the Great and Bombarde respectively. Other new larger-scale pipes at 16' pitch were installed at left and right in the façade, resulting in entirely new pipework across the entire front of the instrument (save for the eight largest 32' Pedal pipes on each side which remained in place).
The installation of the reconstructed Positive divisions and the additional large-scale pipes necessary for the re-designed façade began during the summer of 2001. At this time, final details such as the gold tinting of all façade pipes and the installation of all new golden oak panels and molding across the base of the instrument were completed.
While the redesign of the façade was a major element of the initial stages of the project, disbursements were first and foremost for the improvement of the instrument's tonal and mechanical design, specifically: 1) reconstruction of the Positive division as two new divisions containing over 1600 pipes (including a significant amount of new pipework for both additional and replaced ranks) set on new slider-action chests, with both Positives (Left and Right) based on a 16' plenum and with broader scaling; 2) over 200 new large-scale pipes to help round out the overall tonal design and complete the façade; and 3) a new four-manual console capable of controlling both organs, replete with the latest technology, making the instrument reliable and flexible.
2001: completion of the first major stage; plans for the future
The newly renovated and reconstructed South Gallery Positives and façade were inaugurated on the Solemnity of All Saints, 2001, marking the completion of the first major phase of the long-term project, which had begun at Easter 2000 with the installation of the new south gallery console and associated control system (with 128-memory combination action). The new console includes stop knobs for the chancel organ; when the new twin console for the chancel is installed, either organ or both will be playable from either console. Future phases of renovation are, for the chancel instrument, in addition to the planned new console, tonal modifications and façade pipework changes, and for the south gallery organ, tonal modifications to the remaining enclosed and unenclosed divisions. The specification appearing with this article represents the planned end-result of the completed renovation. At present, only the Positive divisions have the listed specification; although the Great does have its new manual 32' stop, controlling the 32' (+16' extension) Violone, and the Pedal a new Gemshorn 16' (in the façade) as well as new fifth-sounding pipes for the added resultant 64' Gravissiment. The famed Pontifical Trumpet, which sounded so clearly in Olivier Messiaen's memory from his premiere, is now playable from the Great and Bombarde as well as the original Choir manual location (but still, fortunately, not in the Pedal!).
Liturgy, the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed, is the source of its life. The organs of the Upper Church were originally constructed during the early days of liturgical reform, uncertain of all that would follow but confident in the instrument's "wonderful splendor." It was and is the ethos of liturgy that keeps the bellows filled and the pipes sounding. It is fitting then, that at their completion, the great organs of the Upper Church more than ever before will "powerfully lift up the spirit to God."
--Peter Latona, D.M.A., Director of Music
--Robert Grogan, D.M.A., Organist and Carillonneur
--Geraldine M. Rohling, Ph.D., Archivist
Gallery Organ
GREAT (Manual II)
32' Contre Violone (Ped)
16' Violone (ext)
8' Principal
8' Violone (ext)
8' Harmonic Flute
8' Chimney Flute
51/3' Gross Quint
4' Octave
4' Spitz Flute
31/5' Gross Terz
22/3' Quint
2' Super Octave
13/5' Terz
11/3' Mixture IV-VI
2/3' Scharf IV-VI
16' Fagot
8' Trumpet
4' Clarion
8' Pontifical Trumpet (Bombarde)
Tremolo
SWELL (Manual III)
16' Viole
16' Gedeckt
8' Principal
8' Bourdon
8' Orchestral Flute
8' Viole (ext)
8' Viole céleste (Low C)
8' Gemshorn
8' Gemshorn céleste (Low G)
4' Octave
4' Traverse Flute
22/3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
2' Zauber Flute
13/5' Seventeenth
11/3' Nineteenth
2' Plein Jeu III-IV
1' Fourniture III-IV
1/2' Cymbale III
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette
8' Hautbois
8' Voix humaine
4' Clairon
Tremolo
CHOIR (Manual I)
16' Quintaton
8' Principal
8' Flûte à cheminée
8' Salicional
8' Salicional céleste (Tenor C)
8' Flûte douce
8' Flûte céleste (Tenor C)
4' Fugara
4' Flûte conique
22/3' Nazard
2' Flageolet
2' Flûte à bec
13/5' Tierce
11/3' Larigot
1' Piccolo
11/3' Mixture IV
16' Basson
8' Petite Trompette
8' Clarinette
8' Chalumeau
4' Hautbois-Clairon
8' Pontifical Trumpet (Bombarde)
Tremolo
POSITIVE LEFT (Manual I)
16' Geigen
8' Principal
8' Rohrflöte
4' Principal
4' Koppelflöte
22/3' Rohr Nasat
2' Octave
2' Spielflöte
13/5' Terzflöte
11/3' Quintflöte
11/3' Mixture IV
8' Trompete
Tremolo
POSITIVE RIGHT (Manual I)
16' Singend Gedeckt
8' Holz Gedeckt
4' Principal
4' Hohlflöte
2' Principal
2' Blockflöte
1' Sifflöte
2/3' Mixture IV
8' Krummhorn
Tremolo
BOMBARDE (Manual IV)
8' Diapason
8' Open Flute
4' Octave Major
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Mixture V
8' Cornet VI
16' Bombarde Harmonique
8' Trompette Harmonique
4' Clairon Harmonique
8' Pontifical Trumpet
Tower Bells
PEDAL
64' Gravissiment (1-12 resultant)
32' Contre Violone
32' Contre Bourdon
16' Contre Basse
16' Principal
16' Violone (ext)
16' Gemshorn
16' Viole (Sw)
16' Bourdon
16' Gedeckt (Sw)
16' Quintaton (Ch)
102/3' Gross Quint
8' Octave
8' Violone (ext)
8' Stopped Flute
8' Gedeckt (Sw)
51/3' Quint (from Harmonics IV)
4' Choral Bass
4' Open Flute
2' Octave Bass
2' Hohl Flute
22/3' Rauschquint II
11/3' Mixture II
2/3' Scharf II
62/5' Harmonics IV
32' Contre Bombarde
32' Contre Basson (ext Ch)
16' Bombarde (ext)
16' Posaune
16' Fagot (Gt)
16' Basson (Ch)
8' Trumpet
8' Fagot (Gt)
4' Clarion
4' Rohr Schalmei
Chancel Organ
GREAT (Manual II)
16' Violone
16' Bourdon
8' Principal
8' Violone (ext)
8' Flûte ouverte
8' Bourdon
4' Octave
4' Flûte à fuseau
22/3' Nasat
2' Super Octave
2' Flûte à bec
13/5' Terz
11/3' Mixture IV
8' Trumpet
8' Bombarde (ext Ped)
Tremolo
SWELL (Manual III)
16' Gedeckt
8' Principal
8' Viole
8' Viole céleste (Low G)
8' Gedeckt (ext)
4' Octave
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Super Octave
11/3' Quint
2' Plein Jeu III-IV
16' Basson-Hautbois
8' Trompette
8' Hautbois (ext)
4' Clairon
8' Bombarde (Gt)
Tremolo
CHOIR (Manual I)
16' Dolcan
8' Diapason
8' Rohr Flute
8' Dolcan (ext)
8' Dolcan céleste (Low G)
4' Fugara
4' Block Flute
22/3' Nazard
2' Principal
2' Spitz Flute
13/5' Tierce
2' Fourniture III
2/3' Cymbale II
8' Corno di Bassetto
8' Bombarde (Gt)
Tremolo
PEDAL
32' Contre Bourdon (ext)
16' Principal
16' Violone (Gt)
16' Bourdon (Gt)
16' Soubasse
16' Gedeckt (Sw)
16' Dolcan (Ch)
8' Octave
8' Violone (Gt)
8' Stopped Flute
8' Gedeckt (Sw)
4' Choral Bass
4' Open Flute
2' Octave Bass
22/3' Rauschquint II
11/3' Mixture II
32' Contre Basson (ext Sw)
16' Bombarde
16' Basson (Sw)
8' Bombarde (ext)
8' Basson (Sw)
4' Chalumeau
