A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, Lithonia, Georgia
Bethel United Methodist Church, Charleston, South Carolina
The history of Bethel United Methodist Church, like so many
Southern coastal churches, is unique and storied. Founded in 1797, it is the
oldest United Methodist church in Charleston on its original building site and
was the only Methodist church to remain open during the Civil War. The current
sanctuary, built in 1853, remains largely as it was originally built, with the
exception of the side balconies that were removed in 1886 after the Charleston
earthquake. Bethel Church took to heart John Wesley’s instructions to his
followers “to sing lustily, modestly, in time, and above all, to sing
spiritually,” and has made music a major part of worship. This
understanding of worship and music led the Board of Stewards in 1874 to write:
“after giving the subject full consideration, we are of the opinion that
an improvement in our singing is desired by a large number of our congregation
and that this can be obtained by the use of an instrument of some kind.”
The first keyboard instrument used at Bethel was a melodeon
that served the church from 1874 to 1887. In 1887 the church undertook a major
renovation to enlarge the chancel area with a choir loft and the installation
of a pipe organ. A chamber was built on the front of the church to house the
instrument. The new pipe organ was built by the Felgemaker firm of Erie,
Pennsylvania: 12 ranks over two manuals and pedal, mechanical action, with
hand-pumped bellows. The organ wind continued to be raised by human hands until
1921 when an electric motor was installed.
In 1934 the church donated the Felgemaker to Spring Street
United Methodist Church and contracted with Austin Organs of Hartford,
Connecticut for a new instrument of 14 ranks on three manuals and pedal. It
served the church well over the next 70 years albeit with a limited stoplist,
and was damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The organ was repaired but
consideration was under way to replace it with a larger instrument to meet the
choral and congregational accompaniment needs. The study for a new organ was
led by Greg Jones, organist/choirmaster of Bethel Church.
A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company was called in to consult on the possibilities for a new
instrument. Our firm is well acquainted with Charleston through previous
projects, and we were excited to again be working in this city. Working with
Greg Jones and the organ committee of Bethel United Methodist Church, our firm
found kindred spirits that were resolute in the need for an instrument that
could fully support the music program of this dynamic ministry. A strong desire
was to design an organ that harkened to the church’s previous
instruments.
While not working toward a specific style of organbuilding,
the specification was to incorporate the romantic orchestral nature of the
early-1900s American organs in conjunction with the chorus structure found in
instruments built in the later 1900s. In a sense we found an instrument
patterning itself loosely around the formative designs of early American
Classicism, which itself was influenced by many nationalistic organbuilding
styles. In keeping with this style, the English influence of American
Classicism was allowed to flourish in this specification in concert with the
romanticism of early twentieth-century Amercan tonal design. The church desired
an organ that could pay homage to the genius of Skinner and Harrison in a
collective whole that would please both.
A fundamental consideration for a new instrument was
placement. The organ chamber that was added in the late 1800s had no room for
additional pipework. The interior of the church did not allow any additional
encroachment by the organ. While we have enjoyed the challenge of designing and
building custom organ cases--indeed these often become an
instrument’s signature--our firm recognized and was sensitive to the
church’s desire that the front of the chancel remain visually unchanged.
The non-speaking façade pipes and casement had been built in the 1930s
and were both of sound construction. Therefore, the only possible solution was
to increase the size of the present organ chamber and utilize the old
façade and case. This presented the unique challenge of an exterior
change to the sanctuary. The rich history of this city and its architecture
have been protected by strict zoning and a board of architectural review. The
redesign of the church exterior would have to be minimal and follow the precept
of the 1887 architecture. Detailed plans were drawn up, and the City of
Charleston approved the request for a change to the church’s structure.
This new organ comprises three manuals--Great, Swell,
Choir/Solo--and Pedal. The eclectic stoplist pays homage to American and
English tonal concepts with a purposeful regard for the room acoustic and
worship style.
Space considerations led us to design the third manual as a
combined Choir/Solo division. Careful stop choice, pipework design, and scaling
were considered, particularly at 4’ pitch. The division duality also governed
the choice of strings and reeds.
The tonal design and scaling of the organ began with
attending worship at the church and study of the current and previous organ
stoplists. We were resolute in the need for a complete chorus in each division,
strings, flutes of differing weights and textures, and orchestral and chorus
reeds. Located in the Choir/Solo is an expressive high-pressure reed battery
consisting of a hooded English Tuba, hooded Tromba Heroique, Clarinet, and
French Horn. These stops are duplexed
between the Great and Choir/Solo divisions.
In keeping with the congregregational accompanimental nature
of the organ, each division has been designed around an independent 8’
weighted principal chorus. The divisional choruses, while differing in color,
are designed to complement one to another as a unified whole. The mixtures are
lower pitched than what might be found in many contemporary instruments, and
were scaled and voiced to serve as a foil to the divisional chorus without
stridency.
The strings and companion flutes in the expressive divisions
are designed to build weightless accompaniment for choral work. The strings,
when taken as a whole, allow the organ to feature a divided string organ
division located between the Swell and Choir/Solo divisions, linked by means of
couplers. The usually diminutive Flauto Dolce and its companion Celeste were
designed to maintain a slight string edge evocative of an Erzähler as part
of the massed expressive string chorus.
Our experience servicing organs in this area taught us the
need for stability in the materials and action choices for a region that has
extremes of temperature and constant humidity. The chest action is
electro-pneumatic slider with all reeds on electro-pneumatic unit action. In
this manner flue and reed pipes are on an action that maximizes the speech
characteristics and quality for each type of pipe. It also permits the flues
and reeds to be placed on differing wind pressures and tremulants. The wind is
regulated with dual curtain valve spring and weighted reservoirs, providing
wind that is stable but without being stiff and unyielding.
An organ of this type, with its wind pressures and scales,
can build a very powerful ensemble, and it is very important that the organ be
under effective expressive control. This is accomplished with extra thick
expression shades that interlock. Expression motors provide over 40 stages of
travel for complete dynamic control. With effective expression, the solo reeds
are useful with the Great chorus--even the Solo English Tuba on 14”
of wind can be tamed for use as a Great chorus reed.
The organ is controlled from a three-manual drawknob console
built of American walnut and ebony.
It includes features such as multiple level memory, transposer,
Great/Choir manual transfer, programmable ventil cutouts, programmable
crescendo and sforzando, record/playback capability, and MIDI.
The organ was tonally finished in our customary manner with
initial tonal work followed by several planned returns. In this manner it is
possible to be much more objective in tonal finishing and allows the organ to
be used in a service role to properly judge its weight, color and balance. The
organ was tonally finished under the direction of Arthur Schlueter III and
Daniel Angerstein with the assistance of Lee Hendricks, John Tanner, and Marc
Conley.
Since its installation, the organ has been used in a number
of community concerts and has served for performances in the Spoleto Music
Festival.
Quality organ building is never the result of one individual
but is the result of a team effort. A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company wishes
to thank its staff including:
Art Schlueter, Jr., president
Arthur Schlueter III, vice president/ tonal and artistic
direction
John Tanner, vice president of production/tonal finisher
Howard Weaver, senior design engineer
Shan Dalton, office manager/administrator assistant
Bob Parris, executive assistant
Marc Conley, shop foreman/tonal finisher
Randy Wilson, assistant shop foreman
Rob Black, master cabinetmaker/CAD organ design
Michael Desimone, leather and small parts
Katrina Thornton, financial secretary
Joe Sedlacek, Sr., console wiring
Joe Sedlacek, Jr., organ assembly
Mark McCurley, wiring
Steve Springer, CNC operator/woodwright
Mark Montour, woodwright
Dustin Carlisle, organ assembly
Jeffery Chilcutt, organ assembly
Kelvin Cheatham, organ assembly
Kevin Cartwright, tuning and service
Bob Weaver, tuning and service
Othel Liles, electrical engineer
Patty Conley, organ assembly
Herb Ridgley, Jr. sales and support staff
Don Land, sales and support staff
David Still, sales and support staff
--Arthur Schlueter III
Bethel United Methodist Church, Charleston, South Carolina,
three manuals, 51 ranks
All manual stops 61 pipes, pedal stops 32 pipes, unless
otherwise indicated
GREAT (41/2” wind pressure)
16’ Double
Open Diapason (12 pipes)
8’ Open
Diapason
8’ Principal
8’ Violone
(49 pipes)
8’ Bourdon
8’ Harmonic
Flute (44 pipes)
4’ Octave
4’ Spire
Flute
22/3’ Twelfth
(prepared for)
2’ Fifteenth
V Cornet
(prepared for)
IV-V Mixture
11/3’ (281 pipes)
8’ Clarinet
(Choir/Solo, prep. for Gt. Trumpet)
16’ Trombone
(Choir/Solo, non-coupling)
8’ Tromba
Heroique (Choir/Solo, non-coupling)
4’ Tromba
(Choir/Solo, non-coupling)
8’ English
Tuba (Choir/Solo, non-coupling)
Chimes
Great
to Great 4’
Tremolo
SWELL (flues 6”, reeds 61/4” wind
pressure)
16’ Lieblich
Flute (12 pipes)
8’ Chimney
Flute
8’ Geigen
Principal
8’ Viole
de Gamba
8’ Viole
Celeste TC (49 pipes)
8’ Flauto
Dolce
8’ Flauto
Dolce Celeste TC (49 pipes)
4’ Geigen
Octave (12 pipes)
4’ Koppel
Flute
22/3’ Nazard
2’ Flageolet
13/5’ Tierce
IV-VI Mixture
2’ (300 pipes)
16’ Contra
Oboe (12 pipes)
8’ Trumpet
8’ Oboe
8’ Vox
Humana (separate tremolo)
4’ Clarion
(12 pipes)
Swell
to Swell 16’
Swell
Unison Off
Swell
to Swell 4’
Tremolo
CHOIR/SOLO (flues 6”, reeds 73/4”, Tuba
18” wind pressure)
16’ Gemshorn
(61 notes)
8’ English
Diapason
8’ Hohl
Flute
8’ Gamba
8’ Gamba
Celeste TC (49 pipes)
8’ Gemshorn
8’ Gemshorn
Celeste (49 pipes)
4’ Principal
4’ Traverse
Flute
2’ Piccolo
11/3’ Quint
III Choral
Mixture 2’ (183 pipes)
8’ Clarinet
8’ French
Horn
8’ Tromba
Heroique
16’ English
Tuba (49 notes, non-coupling)
8’ English
Tuba (non-coupling)
4’ English
Tuba (49 notes, non-coupling)
Choir/Solo (on tablet rail)
Choir/Solo to Choir/Solo 16’
Choir/Solo Unison Off
Choir/Solo to Choir/Solo 4’
Harp (61 notes, digital, on tablet rail)
Zimbelstern (9 bells, on tablet rail)
Tremolo
PEDAL
32’ Untersatz
(32 notes)
16’ Principal
(12 pipes)
16’ Double
Open Diapason (Great)
16’ Gemshorn
(Choir/Solo)
16’ Bourdon
(12 pipes)
16’ Lieblich
Flute (Swell)
8’ Octave
8’ Open
Diapason (Great)
8’ Gemshorn
(Choir/Solo)
8’ Bourdon
8’ Chimney
Flute (Swell)
4’ Choral
Bass
4’ Cantus
Flute (Great)
III Mixture
22/3’ (Great)
32’ Contra
Trombone (32 notes, digital)
32’ Harmonics
(32 notes, wired cornet series)
16’ Trombone
(12 pipes, Choir/Solo)
16’ Contra
Oboe (Swell)
8’ English
Tuba (Choir/Solo)
8’ Tromba
(Choir/Solo)
8’ Oboe
(Swell)
4’ Clairon
(Choir/Solo)
Chimes (32 notes, Gt, on tablet rail)
Inter-manual couplers
Great to Pedal 8’
Great to Pedal 4’
Swell to Pedal 8’
Swell to Pedal 4’
Choir/Solo to Pedal 8’
Choir/Solo to Pedal 4’
MIDI on Pedal
Swell to Great 16’
Swell to Great 8’
Swell to Great 4’
Choir/Solo to Great 16’
Choir/Solo to Great 8’
Choir/Solo to Great 4’
MIDI on Great
Great to Choir/Solo 8’
Swell to Choir/Solo 16’
Swell to Choir/Solo 8’
Swell to Choir/Solo 4’
MIDI on Choir/Solo
MIDI on Swell
