Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois
Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Charleston, South Carolina
1963 Noehren organ, St.
Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church, Chicago, Illinois
Robert Noehren (1910–2002) was an influential performer, recording artist, and teacher. He was for many years university organist and head of the organ department at the University of Michigan. Not satisfied with the work of contemporary American Neo-Baroque organbuilders, he founded his own enterprise, which built a total of 21 organs between 1954 and 1978. Noehren described his tonal style as an attempt to meld North German (Schnitger) principals with French classic and romantic reeds (Clicquot and Cavaille-Coll.)
Noehren himself performed the dedication recitals on his organ at St. Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois, on December 29, 1963. As originally installed, it had 1,885 pipes. Noehren also made recordings of the organ following its completion, which afford us insight into Noehren’s tonal philosophy and playing style on his own instrument.
The organ remained basically unchanged over its 50 years at St. Richard’s. In 1996 the original electro-mechanical relay and setter board combination action were replaced with solid state equipment. At the same time a Zimbelstern was added and a 32’ Resultant stop was added to the Pedal, drawn from the original Subbass.
The instrument was installed above the gallery of the church, hanging from the ceiling on two beams in an exposed position. The Swell was enclosed at the rear of the beams, with the large, shared Great-Positiv windchest in front (see photograph below). The Pedal division was on two chests on the floor at the rear of the balcony.
By 2014 the congregation’s dynamic has changed, and they no longer required their organ and wished to find an appropriate new home for it. Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was in the market for an organ for their new sanctuary building and decided that the available Noehren organ would suit their needs admirably. Holy Spirit purchased the instrument and contracted with Buzard Pipe Organ Builders to remove and rebuild the organ for their new church.
The new installation required an entirely new layout for the organ, as well as casework sympathetic to the beautiful new sanctuary. The new casework carries all the new bass pipes of the Great and Pedal principals, replacing collapsed pipes that were formerly shared between both these stops. The organ was redesigned internally with a new layout, new floor and building frames, new Swell box, and a new and greatly augmented wind system and new blower.
The action in the organ is electro-mechanical. Originally the pipe valves were of the Reisner “floating valve” type patented by Roger Miles and George Gress. Despite the claim made by some that this kind of action never wears out, the valves in this organ were no longer reliable after 50 years. We have replaced all of the actions with new magnets and rewired the entire organ. This also enabled us to provide larger toe holes to properly wind bass pipes.
A peculiarity of Noehren’s original design was a sharing of low octaves throughout the instrument. For example, the bottom octave (1–12) of the Great 4′ Octave borrowed the tenor octave (13–24) of the 8′ Principal. The cumulative effect of these compromises (which Noehren felt were justified because they reduced cost and saved space) was a weakening of tone throughout the instrument’s lower range. We undertook to provide additional pipework in almost all cases to correct these deficiencies, and so new, independent bottom octaves have been provided for the Great 4′ Octave, 4′ Spitzfloete, and 2′ Octave, as well as the Positiv 8′ Gedeckt and 2′ Principal. The Swell flutes have retained the old system of borrowing, due to space limitations; however, their blend and balance have been carefully refined.
The organ has gained a new 4′ Koppel Flute in the Positiv; a new, large-scaled Subbass rank in the Pedal, and new Chimes. A new Oboe rank, specially designed with a Baroque influence, replaces the original Swell Trompette. This Oboe has an interesting character, somewhere between an Oboe and an English horn. It can both color the flues in the Swell in combinations, as well as providing an excellent solo sound.
Some rescaling was undertaken, as well as numerous repairs and very careful regulation of all the pipework, especially removing inconsistencies in the flue voicing. The Cromhorne and Trumpet ranks were rebuilt for speech and tuning stability. The Mixture stops, originally each of five (!) ranks, were reconfigured. The Swell Plein Jeu was lowered significantly in pitch and now cleverly works as both the expected “crown” of the division as well as providing a much more useful substitute principal chorus in combination with the Swell foundations.
Installation of the organ was completed in autumn of 2016, the final stage of which was a comprehensive tonal finishing of the organ in the superb and lively acoustic of the new church. The end result is a still-bright but much warmer sound, which fills the handsome new sanctuary admirably. The organ can lead the congregation in hymns and liturgy, accompany choral anthems, and serve as a convincing vehicle for a wide range of solo organ repertoire. The sound of the instrument is by no means typical of the sound of a new Buzard instrument, but we are proud to have been able to make this instrument much more versatile and put it into as-new condition for the Holy Spirit congregation.
The organ was dedicated in a worship service and recital by Stephen Buzard on Sunday, February 12. A dinner and introduction to the organ was held at the church for the local American Guild of Organists chapter the following evening.
The organ as rebuilt comprises 26 independent stops, 37 ranks, and 1,853 pipes.
—Keith Williams
Buzard staff that were involved in the Holy Spirit project included:
John-Paul Buzard, President & Artistic Director
Charles Eames, Vice-President & General Manager
Brian Davis, Tonal Director
Keith Williams, Service Director
David Brown, Service Foreman
Shane Rhoades, Production Department Foreman
Mark Dirksen, Business Manager
Riley Ano, Tonal Assistant
Trevor Dodd, Service Technician
Viktoria Franken, Tonal Associate
Christopher Goodnight, Cabinetmaker
Max Konrad, Service Technician
Michael Meyer, Cabinetmaker
Dennis Northway, Service & Sales Associate
Jeremy Taylor, Cabinetmaker
Stuart Weber, Senior Service Technician
John Wiegand, Service Technician
Bibliography
Schnurr, Stephen J., Jr., and Dennis E. Northway. Pipe Organs of Chicago, Volume II. Oak Park, IL, Chauncey Park Press, 2009, pp. 109–111.
Houghton, Richard. “The Organs of Robert Noehren—Simplicity, practicality and economy.” Journal of American Organbuilding, Vol. 10, No. 3 (September 2015), pp. 8–14.
Original (1963) stoplist
GREAT (21⁄2″ w.p.)
16′ Quintadena (TC) 44
8′ Principal (1–12 Pedal) 44
8′ Rohrfloete 56
4′ Octave (1–12 from 8′) 44
4′ Spitzfloete (1–12 from 8′) 44
22⁄3′ Nasat (TC, Positiv Larigot)
2′ Octave (1–12 from 4′) 44
2′ Spillfloete (1–12 from Fl 4′) 44
13⁄5′ Terz (TG) 37
III–V Mixture 244
16′ Dulzian (TC, Pos. Cromhorne)
8′ Trumpet 56
SWELL (21⁄2″ w.p.)
8′ Bourdon 56
8′ Gamba 56
8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 44
4′ Flute Octaviante (1–12 Bdn) 44
2′ Octavin (ext 4′) 12
III–V Plein Jeu 244
8′ Trompette 56
4′ Clairon (ext) 12
Tremulant
POSITIV (21⁄2″ w.p.)
8′ Gedeckt (1–12 Gt Rohrfloete) 44
4′ Rohrfloete (Gt) 12
2′ Principal 56
11⁄3′ Larigot 56
III–V Scharff 244
8′ Cromhorne 56
PEDAL (21⁄2″ w.p.)
16′ Subbass 32
8′ Principal 32
4′ Octave 32
2′ Octave (ext) 12
V Mixture 128
16′ Posaune (ext) 12
8′ Trumpet (Gt)
4′ Trumpet (Gt)
Couplers
Sw/Gt
Pos/Gt
Sw/Pos
Sw/Gt 16
Gt/Ped
Pos/Ped
Sw/Ped
Setterboard pistons 1–4 all divisions and generals
34 stops
42 ranks
1,885 pipes
2017 stoplist
GREAT (21⁄2″ w.p.)
16′ Quintade (rescaled, in Sw box) 56
8′ Principal (1–24 new, 1–21 façade) 56
8′ Rohrfloete 56
4′ Octave (1–12 new) 56
4′ Spitzfloete (1–12 new) 68
22⁄3′ Nasat (TC, Positiv Larigot)
2′ Octave (1–12 new) 56
2′ Spillfloete (ext)
13⁄5′ Terz (TG) 37
IV Mixture (11⁄3′) 224
16′ Dulzian (TC, Pos. Cromorne)
8′ Trumpet 56
SWELL (3″ w.p.)
8′ Bourdon 56
8′ Gamba 56
8′ Voix Celeste (TC) 44
4′ Flute Octaviante (1–12 Bdn) 56
2′ Octavin (ext 4′)
IV Plein Jeu 224
8′ Oboe (new) 68
4′ Clairon (ext)
Tremulant
POSITIV (21⁄2″ w.p.)
8′ Gedeckt (1–12 new) 56
4′ Floete (new, wood & metal) 56
2′ Principal 56
11⁄3′ Larigot 56
III Scharf 168
8′ Cromorne 56
Zimbelstern
Chimes (new)
PEDAL (21⁄2″ w.p., 4″ Subbass)
32′ Resultant (Subbass & Quintade)
16′ Subbass (new, larger scale) 32
16′ Quintade (Gt)
8′ Principal (1–21 new in façade) 32
8′ Quintade (Gt)
4′ Octave 44
2′ Octave (ext)
IV Mixture 128
16′ Posaune (ext, 1–12 1/2-length) 12
8′ Trumpet (Gt)
4′ Trumpet (Gt)
Couplers
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Positiv to Pedal
Swell to Great 16
Swell to Great
Positiv to Great
Swell to Positiv
Accessories
General Cancel (thumb)
Combination adjuster (thumb)
Memory Lock (key)
Balanced Swell expression shoe
Zimbelstern volume adjustment knob
26 independent stops
37 ranks
1,853 pipes
