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Oberlin College opens its new Fisk Organ, Opus 116

March 6, 2003
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Larry Palmer is a contributing editor of THE DIAPASON.

A concert of music for organ and orchestra featured the outstanding Oberlin Orchestra, comprising undergraduate students, conducted by Paul Polivnick.  Soloists were Haskell Thomson and David Boe, the current organ faculty members.

 

Rain, persistent earlier in the week, had given way to an achingly beautiful, dry and crisp fall day, perfect weather for celebration. Nature's affirmation of life's beauty made even more moving an added opening tribute to the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the quietly noble "Nimrod" from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, followed immediately by a passionate rendition of our national anthem, which allowed the first hearing of the new organ.

The planned program began with Robert Sirota's In the Fullness of Time, a celebratory noise of organ, brass and percussion, and the ubiquitous "Organ" Symphony (the third) of Camille Saint-Saëns, with Boe at the keyboards. He got the hush of the quiet organ entrance just right, revealing immediately a warmth of sound to complement the patina of the stately mahogany case, the central and lower parts of which came from the chapel's original organ, E. M. Skinner's opus 230 (1915).

The "other" keyboard part, played by pianist Isadora Pastragus (and assisted in the several four-hand measures by Aymeric Dupré la Tour), was spot on. Balances were well-conceived throughout. The horns had a rough night. In the second part of the concert, Haskell Thomson gave a thoroughly satisfying performance of Joseph Jongen's virtuoso Symphonie Concertante, showcasing the organ's many colors with unerring fingers and feet.

Oberlin's traditional foot-stomping ovation, much more collegial than a standing one ever could be, vibrated the floor of the Chapel gallery, evoking for me memories of such enthusiastic demonstrations at concerts heard in years long past. It was exactly 45 years ago that I came to Oberlin as a freshman, to be shaped and nurtured by such exemplary teachers as organists Leo Holden and Fenner Douglass, as well as choral conductor Robert Fountain, whose St. John Passion here had been accompanied by a violent thunder storm, underlining the musical drama even further. Another unforgettable mentor was Robert Melcher, truly a "virtuoso" theory teacher, always in attendance at artist recitals in this hall: concerts such as those by baritone Gérard Souzay, pianists Glenn Gould (Bach's Goldberg Variations) and Van Cliburn (whose signature rendition of The Star Spangled Banner caused consternation, and a delayed patriotic standing, among those who mistook its downward major triadic opening for the first bar of the program-opener, Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, which begins with a similar descending figure, but in the minor). And, perhaps most memorable of all, an appearance by the 20th century's most commanding composer, Igor Stravinsky, who crowned a week's residency at Oberlin by hobbling onto the stage to conduct a soaring, incandescent performance of his Symphony of Psalms.

Back in the present it was not ghostly figures from Oberlin's illustrious past, but a large group of living alumni who joined others from the capacity audience to congratulate the performers, comment on the new organ, and revel late into the night at the open reception following the concert.  Set in the spacious Root Room of the former Carnegie Library, now the Admissions Center for the College, the festivities were graced by a striking ice sculpture of the new organ, tables of elegantly presented food, and those all-important reunions with classmates and friends, many not seen for far too many years.

Formal dedication ceremonies for the Kay Africa Memorial Organ were scheduled for Saturday morning. Senior organ major Daniel Sullivan opened the proceedings with a splendid, assured and memorized performance of the Duruflé Toccata from Suite, opus 5. Robert Dodson, Dean of the Oberlin Conservatory, introduced the two professors of organ, both of whom made brief, graceful remarks of gratitude to the donors who had made the new organ possible. Steven Dieck, president of C. B. Fisk, presented Boe and Thomson each with a symbolic key to the new organ, and noted the more than 40,000 hours of building and voicing time accomplished by the Fisk staff, one-third of whom were in attendance.

Dieck also acknowledged the work of acoustician Dana Kirkegaard, whose recommendations for improvements to Finney Chapel's acoustics were accepted not only by the school's musicians, but by the administration and Board of Trustees, as well. Bringing the organ fourteen feet forward of the former instrument's placement allowed it to speak in front of the proscenium arch, directly into the Chapel. Hardening the walls behind the instrument as well as the ceiling of the first two bays directly above the organ helped in projecting a more vibrant sound with better bass response, as has the addition of thicker glass to the windows nearest the organ. More could still be done, of course, to increase reverberation time in the building, and it is to be hoped that funds will be available to continue the treatment of the remaining sections of ceiling as a first step toward this goal.

In her gracious remarks Oberlin's president, Nancy S. Dye, noted that 54 of the organ's 4,014 pipes had been "endowed" by specific donors. She reminded her listeners that many opportunities to contribute to this funding remained.

Karen Flint, a member of the Board of Trustees, presented her former organ teacher, Fenner Douglass of Oberlin's class of 1942, for the honorary degree, Doctor of Music, which was conferred on him by President Dye. Mr. Douglass, Professor Emeritus of Music from Duke University, holds additional degrees from Oberlin: the Bachelor of Music in 1943 and Master of Music in 1949. His scholarly contributions to our knowledge of the historical organ include his books The Language of the Classical French Organ: A Musical Tradition Before 1800 (Yale University Press, 1969, revised edition, 1995) and Cavaillé-Coll and the Musicians: A Documented Account of His First Thirty Years in Organ Building (Sunbury Press, 1980; republished in a newly formatted edition as Cavaillé-Coll and the French Romantic Tradition, by Yale University Press, 1999). Together with Grigg Fountain, Oberlin's other "young Turk" of the 1950s, Douglass charted a course for acquiring historically-informed organs and harpsichords for the Conservatory. Additionally, he was instrumental in obtaining the Kay Africa bequest for Oberlin, a bequest that contributed the major initial funding for the planning and building of the Fisk organ. At this ceremony Mr. Douglass was moving slowly, the result of a recent fall from the walk board of an organ for which he was serving as consultant. There was, however, no diminishing of the wit and mental agility for which he has long been known, as he demonstrated by his address to the assembly.

Introducing this lecture by his former faculty colleague, David Boe noted that Oberlin's most recent previous honorary degree to a member of the organ community had gone to Dutch organ builder Dirk Flentrop in 1968. (Not quite true: the College conferred an honorary doctorate on E. Power Biggs in November 1974.) Now aged 91 and unable to be present to honor his longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Flentrop sent a congratulatory message to be read at the ceremony. Dr. Douglass also received an honorary key to the organ from the Fisk firm.

In his wide-ranging address "Glancing Back to Shape the Future" Professor Douglass traced much of the history of Oberlin's commitment to music, as the first American college to hire a music professor, in 1841, not all that long after the founding of the institution in 1833; its acquisition of a separate Conservatory of Music in 1866 through the purchase (for $1800, including two turtledoves!) of an independent music school founded the previous year; and its confirmation of academic status for the discipline in  1903, when the first music degrees were approved (previously Oberlin had awarded only diplomas in music).

A commitment to organ study began with the appointment of organ professor George Whitfield Andrews, age 21, in 1882. During his 49-year tenure the three-manual Roosevelt organ in the old Warner Concert Hall and the four-manual E. M. Skinner instrument in Finney Chapel were installed. The Warner Hall instrument was enlarged by E. M. Skinner, then rebuilt in the late 1940s by Walter Holtkamp to bring it more in line with changing tastes in organ design, while the Finney Chapel instrument, too, was rebuilt by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in the style of the American "organ reform" movement.

Oberlin's first Flentrop mechanical-action organ, a one-manual Positiv, was acquired by the Conservatory in 1956. (I remember well trying to practice even trio sonatas on this incredibly responsive and beautifully voiced musical instrument!) Nine Flentrop practice and studio organs were ordered for the new Conservatory building, completed in the early 1960s, followed by the masterful 44-stop, 3,400-pipe instrument in the north German style installed in the new Warner Concert Hall by the Flentrop firm in 1974. Appropriately this instrument was dedicated to the memory of Dr. George W. Andrews, in honor of his lifetime devotion to Oberlin Conservatory. A smaller 12-stop instrument in an early 17th-century style inspired by German builders Gottfried Fritzsche and Friedrich Stellwagen was placed in Fairchild Chapel by John Brombaugh and Company in 1981.

Now Oberlin has completed a trio of major period instruments with the installation of its organ in the French symphonic style of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. All three instruments are situated within easy walking distance, around Oberlin's central Tappan Square! More organological riches are to be found in Oberlin's churches--also close at hand: two-manual instruments by Flentrop at Christ Episcopal, Brombaugh at First Methodist, Bedient in the Lutheran Church, and soon, it is hoped, a new mechanical-action instrument will be built for Oberlin's First Church (Congregational), founded in 1834. Douglass compared Oberlin's organ "museum" to the rich 20th-century gems of architecture found in another small community, Columbus, Indiana.

A comparison of two organ departments, Oberlin and the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, New York, occupied much of the remainder of Douglass' talk. Oberlin's ongoing commitment to historic instruments and its wealth of organs was contrasted with the lack of historically-styled instruments at Eastman.

As a direction for the future, Douglass urged Oberlin to consider establishing an institute for advanced organ studies modeled after the Göteborg Organ Academy, and noted that the appointment of Göteborg's Hans Davidsson to the Eastman School organ faculty and the devising of a master plan to endow that institution with a comprehensive collection of period keyboard instruments could lead to a mutually beneficial cooperation.

An unscheduled afternoon allowed the opportunity to wander about the campus, enjoying again the various architectural strata represented by Oberlin's buildings, from solid late 19th-century Victorian landmarks to the Italian Renaissance-inspired creations of 20th-century Cass Gilbert, the classic modernist simplicity of Wallace Harrison's small mid-century auditorium, and the concrete "radiator Gothic" of Minoru Yamasaki's Conservatory buildings. Oberlin has long made a virtue of architectural eclecticism, and by choosing not to have every building on campus look alike, the school has developed its own unique style: a unity of diversities. The center of the campus, both physically and emotionally, is a large, forested square, where at this particular time student reaction to our recent national tragedy was to be seen at a large rock, normally painted with bright colored announcements of campus events, now black and surrounded by memorial flowers, placed there in remembrance and sorrow.

Saturday evening's events revolved around the solo recitals played by David Boe and Haskell Thomson. The patriotic and memorial themes were continued with the dedication of the program to the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the singing of the hymn America the Beautiful as an opening invocation.

Boe offered literal readings of the Final from Symphonie I (Vierne), La Vallée du Béhorléguy au matin from Paysages euskariens (Ermend Bonnal), and Grande Pièce Symphonique (Franck). The organ provided an exquisitely balanced Hautbois with the Swell Foundation stops; a distinctive, singing Positif Clarinette; beautiful Swell Strings suitably supported by the 32-foot Pedal Soubasse; and a rousing final movement Grand Choeur, complete with Octaves Graves at the end. For this concert I exchanged my front row balcony seat of the previous evening for a fifth row "center orchestra" one on the main floor. Here the organ had much more presence and the hall seemed more reverberant.

After intermission Thomson played Variations on Veni Creator (Duruflé) with the intervening chants sung by four organ students (David Kazimir, Thatcher Lyman, Timothy Spelbring, and Jared Stahler); the Andante sostenuto from Symphonie gothique (Widor) gave an opportunity to revel in the creamy orchestral solo voice of the Flûte harmonique; Communion: The birds and the springs and Sortie: The wind of the Spirit from the Pentecost Mass (Messiaen) proved to be the outstanding music making of the evening, during which Messiaen's ecstatic bird calls elicited an echoing whistle from a wandering avian fancier outside the chapel; Choral in A minor (Franck), where, for once, Franck's specified opening registration made sense; and finally, to show off the Orage (Thunder) pedal of the organ, Scène pastorale (for the inauguration of an organ) by L.J.A. Lefébure-Wély. Quel orage indeed!

Before this lengthy concert Roger Sherman moderated a panel presentation by Steven Dieck and David Pike of C. B. Fisk and Dana Kirkegaard, the consulting acoustician for the organ project. Background information on Cavaillé-Coll and the type of sound his organs produced (a "cantabile whine" according to Charles Fisk), the almost pure (95%) tin content of many pipes in the new organ (rather than Fisk's more usual 70-75%) as an attempt to emulate Cavaillé-Coll's even higher tin proportion; the more favorable forward placement of this organ and acoustical treatment of parts of the chapel that resulted in improved bass response and a subsequent enhancement of the reverberation time by 1/3 second were among the topics discussed.

Following the program Oberlin organ alumni and friends were treated to a wine and cheese reception in venerable Peters Hall (1885/87), where current organ students made a presentation of signed and framed dedication-event posters to their hard-working professors.

Finally, on Sunday the consoles of all three of the major Oberlin organs were made available to visiting alumni. The new instrument sounded spectacular in the now-empty Finney Chapel. I am happy to report that, with the help of student host David Kazimir, the French ventil system was negotiated smoothly (a simple pushing of the "Mode" button converts the organ from its multi-level American piston system to the wind-on-and-off French system of Cavaillé-Coll with the stops available on the ventils indicated by red printing, rather than the usual black, on their stop knobs). Fisk's adaptation of the 19th-century Barker Machine, the Servo-Pneumatic Lever allows tension-free playing of the coupled manuals, as well as the employment of the mechanical 16-foot coupler, the Octaves Graves (which operates on the Grand Orgue and any keyboards coupled to it). As for voicing, refinement and beauty of sound remain in the memory, as does the elegant differentiation among the 8-foot Principals of each division of the organ, the stops cohesive, yet each with its individual character.

Thus the "progression to the past" of the previous half-century has borne rich fruit in this very special educational setting. But is it not fair to remind ourselves that, had Oberlin kept its own earlier instruments by Roosevelt, Skinner, Holtkamp and the Christ Church Johnson, its character as an American center for organ study would have been enriched with unique period instruments from our own historic past? Hindsight is always easier than foresight, of course, but a wistful remark from longtime Oberlin music professor W. K. Breckenridge, commenting on the seemingly obligatory European organ study of the post World War Two period, seems to have been perfectly accurate. "No wonder," he said, "that all the young ones go off to Europe to see old organs. All the ones here have been replaced."

As a product of those off-to-Europe years I am delighted to see (and hear) the results of our heightened interest in historic and stylistic matters. I only hope that succeeding generations will grant that we "got it right."  Whatever the verdict, surely an ability to perform the organ music of the 19th-century French symphonists on such an appropriate instrument cannot fail to add a valuable further dimension to the musical experience at Oberlin. Gregory Bover, Fisk's project manager for opus 116, wrote, "We commend this instrument to the present and future faculty and students . . . as an avenue to France in the late 1800s."  It is commended, as well, to those devotees of the organ who will make their way, not to Europe, but to the remarkable organs of this small college town west of Cleveland.

Sources consulted:

* Publications of Oberlin College:

Celebrate: The Program of the Kay Africa Memorial Organ Dedication Events, September 28-30, 2001.

Gail Taylor: A Symphony of Old and New--Oberlin's C. B. Fisk Organ. Oberlin Conservatory Magazine, Spring 2001.

Oberlin College Conservatory of Music presents The Dedication and Inaugural Recital of the George Whitfield Andrews Organ, Friday, November 22, 1974. (The program contains unsigned articles about Flentrop, Biggs, Andrews, and "A Brief History of Warner Hall Organs").

9.11.01: Oberlin Reflections [On the Events of That Day]. Published by the Office of College Relations, 2001.

* The American Organist, July 2001:

Cover Feature: Oberlin's C. B. Fisk Organ. (Contains Statements from the Organ Faculty, Haskell Thomson and David Boe, and from the Organbuilders, written by Gregory Bover.)

* The Diapason, November 1962

"Oberlin Realizes a Dream" (Pictures and specifications of the new practice and studio organs for the Conservatory of Music).

Special thanks to Oberlin historian and organ department friend Richard Lothrop for anecdotal and historical information, as well as for his hospitality during the Fisk dedication weekend.

Fisk Opus 116

Finney Chapel, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

GRAND ORGUE (Manual I)

                  16'          Montre

                  16'          Bourdon

                  8'             Montre

                  8'             Gambe

                  8'             Flûte harmonique

                  8'             Bourdon

                  4'             Prestant

                  4'             Octave

                  2'             Doublette

                                    Grande Fourniture II

                                    Petite Fourniture V-VIII

                                    Dessus de Cornet V

                  16'          Bombarde

                  8'             Trompette

                  4'             Clairon

POSITIF (Manual II, enclosed)

                  16'          Quintaton

                  8'             Principal

                  8'             Salicional

                  8'             Unda maris

                  8'             Cor de Nuit

                  4'             Prestant

                  4'             Flûte douce

                  22⁄3'      Nasard

                  2'             Doublette

                  13⁄5'      Tierce

                  11⁄3'      Larigot

                  1'             Piccolo

                                    Plein jeu IV

                  16'          Cor anglais

                  8'             Trompette

                  8'             Clarinette

RÉCIT (Manual III, enclosed)

                  16'          Bourdon

                  8'             Diapason

                  8'             Viole de Gambe

                  8'             Voix céleste

                  8'             Flûte traversière

                  8'             Bourdon

                  4'             Dulciane

                  4'             Flûte octaviante

                  2'             Octavin

                                    Plein jeu IV

                  16'          Basson

                  8'             Trompette

                  8'             Basson-Hautbois

                  8'             Voix humaine

                  4'             Clairon

PÉDALE

                  32'          Montre (ext)

                  32'          Bourdon (ext, Soubasse)

                  16'          Contrebasse

                  16'          Montre (G.O.)

                  16'          Violonbasse

                  16'          Soubasse

                  8'             Flûte

                  8'             Violoncelle

                  8'             Bourdon

                  4'             Flûte

                  32'          Contre Bombarde

                  16'          Bombarde

                  8'             Trompette

                  4'             Clairon

                                    Pédales de combinaison

                                    Hook-down pedals

                                    (available in Mode français)

                                    Tirasse Grand Orgue

                                    Tirasse Positif

                                    Tirasse Récit

                                    Copula Positif/Grand Orgue

                                    Copula Récit/Grand Orgue

                                    Copula Récit/Positif

                                    Grand Orgue sur la machine

                                    Octaves graves Grand Orgue

                                    Anches Pédale

                                    Anches Grand Orgue

                                    Anches Positif

                                    Anches Récit

                                    Trémolo Récit

                                    Trémolo Positif

                                    Effet d'orage

                                    Coupler drawknobs above Récit

                                    (available in American Mode)

                                    Grand Orgue/Pédale

                                    Positif/Pédale

                                    Récit/Pédale

                                    Positif/Grand Orgue

                                    Récit/Grand Orgue

                                    Octaves graves G.O.

                                    Récit/Positif

                                    Récit Trémolo

                                    Positif Trémolo

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