Knowlton Organ Company of Davidson, NC, has completed the restoration of the 1845 Henry Erben organ at the French Huguenot Church in Charleston, SC. All work was directed toward restoring the organ to the original intent of its builder, utilizing the same materials, hand tools, and work methods used in 1845 whenever possible. This organ is the most historically intact working instrument of its period in Charleston.
Original pressure and voicing restored
Over the years, there had been many attempts to solve the
tonal problems caused by the
20th-century addition of carpet to the Huguenot Church. Generally speaking,
Erben's organs were voiced in a gentle and refined manner and the
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> carpet, of course, had the effect of
making the organ "too small" for the sanctuary. The
"solution" had been to raise the pressure of the organ and "push" the pipes to play louder. Unfortunately, this altered the character of tone as well, thus many pipes had a "forced" sound, were made unstable, or could not be tuned accurately. At the urging of their organist, David Woolsey, the church decided to return the organ to its original wind pressure, restore the original double-rise bellows (which had been converted to single-rise), and restore the hand pump and feeder bellows, allowing for the restoration of the original voicing and tone of the pipes. (Also, at Mr. Woolsey's behest, the carpet was removed from the church and the original heart pine floors were completely refinished, restoring the orgininal acoustic environment of the building.) To reconstruct the second rise, the massive 9' x 5' bellows was disassembled completely and the original ribs were used as patterns for the new ones, which were made from perfect antique poplar. Erben made this double-rise bellows with two inward folds, rather than the more common inverted fold on the top, as evidenced by the early traces of glue and leather. The original pump handle and dual feeder bellows were intact, though in need of new leather and a few replacement wooden parts which were made from 150-year-old maple and walnut from builder's stock. The organ may now either be hand-pumped or run from the blower by opening a butterfly valve. A period-stye wind indicator was also made and installed.
Fortunately, the original voicing of the pipes is
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> completely intact, as there had never
been an attempt to cut the mouths, alter the nicking of the languids, or
significantly alter the settings placed by Mr. Erben. Though some metal flue
pipes in the 4' range had been replaced (due certainly to excessive tuning
damage) these replacement pipes were made and voiced quite properly.
Determining the original pitch of the pipes was integral to the process of
finding the original wind pressure, and a key indicator in this process is the
position of the tuning ears on the two sets of chimney flutes with soldered-on
tops. It is known that hand-pumped organs rarely exceeded 3" of pressure, so we began there as our
benchmark. With the chimney flutes in the voicing room at 72 degrees F, we
gradually lowered the pressure with the ears in a "neutral"
perpendicular position. When the speech, timbre, and tuning of the flutes and
Great Principal C pipes reclaimed the refined qualities one would expect to
hear from Erben pipes of the period, it became evident that A=430hz on
2-7/8" of wind pressure was likely the original setting! The replacement
of the unsatisfactory 1969 Great Trumpet pipes required an accurate historical
reproduction of Erben's work and these pipes, made by Eastern Organ Pipes of
Hagerstown MD using the same metal composition, scaling, and shallot shapes
taken from historical samples of Erben's reeds, yielded superb results. The
firm also reconditioned the original Erben 8' Oboe pipes, and both projects
have exceeded our highest expectations.
Pedal compass expanded
Originally, 20 pedals pulled down from the Great manual, and
there was no 16' pedal stop. John Baker, a former Erben employee, added a 15-note Bourdon 16' to the rear of the case sometime between 1859 and 1876, while a
resident of Charleston. In 1969, a 27-note pedalboard was installed with an
aluminum coupler rollerboard, but the pedal compass was never actually
completed to 27 notes. However, the Erben pedal coupler rollerboard, originally
made to actuate the pull-downs, was still stored with the organ, and by
installing exact reproductions of the Erben rollers, the original rollerboard
was expanded to 27 notes, supplanting the 1969 aluminum substitute. The pedals
and Great manual were then connected to the rollerboard with new 1/4"
walnut pulls made to period style with wrapped wire ends and adjustable nuts,
and 27 new birch pedal jacks were installed to pull the horizontal trackers.
With Baker's 16' Bourdon pipes #1-15 along the back of the organ case,
"new" 100-year-old 16' Bourdon pipes for pedals #16-27 were installed
inside the upper case, mounted on a new pallet windchest constructed of
hand-planed antique pine. A complete new pedal tracker action was constructed
to incorporate the old and new pipes, and also to provide a pedal action that
would emulate the high quality of Erben's work. A horizontal 27-note
rollerboard was laid out on a new floor frame, and pine reproductions of the Baker pedal rollers with tapered walnut roller arms were installed. The new basswood pedal trackers were then linked to the original Baker square rail to play Bourdon pipes #1-15. The pedal rollers extend to the C-side case, with roller arms to pull down the pallets for Bourdon pipes #1627, elevated inside the case. The entire pedal action lies flat on the floor underneath the bellows and hand-pump feeders providing a fitting and elegant solution. Over the years,
many trackers in the manual action had been repaired or replaced with various
materials, leaving inconsistent results. The trackers for the Swell and the
Great key actions were completely replaced, using new basswood trackers with
wooden tops and wire ends with adjustable links. All of the organ's windchests
were disassembled, cleaned, and the grids recovered in fine leather. The
mahogany chest tables were found in perfect condition, minor repairs to cracks
in the sliders, toeboards, and sponsals were made, and new wire pulldowns with
weighted seals were installed to complete the restoration of the windchests.
Shellac finish restored
The shellac finish on the beautiful and ornate mahogany case
of this organ was found in varying conditions--the sides were bleached by
direct UV radiation from the windows, the upper front casework and carvings
were coal-black from benign neglect, and the lower front case had been wiped
with a variety of furniture polishes over the years. Preservation of the
original shellac finish was imperative, but a non-invasive restoration of the
uniformity and original luster of the finish was very important. All of the
casework was damp-wiped with an oil soap solution known to be shellac-friendly,
and hand-dried. Although the sun-bleached sides had lost the dark patina of the
front case, staining such a large area simply would violate the historical
integrity of the finish. However, shellac is a natural substance, refined from
the secretions of a tiny Asian insect, the Laccifer Lacca, and in its raw form,
is the same material used by organ builders and furniture craftsmen for
hundreds of years. Using the rawest, darkest, unrefined dry shellac flakes
available, processed by hand into liquid form with alcohol, new dark shellac
was painstakingly hand-applied, melting into the original shellac until the
patina matched the rest of the case. The entire finish was then hand-waxed and
buffed using an antique furniture polish composed of natural oils and beeswax.
Organ dedication
The organ is to be dedicated in Spring of 1998, and the
recitalist is yet to be announced.
GREAT (58 notes, GG-F3)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Open
Diapason (58 notes)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Stop'd
Diapason Treble (37)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Stop'd
Diapason Bass (21)
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
22/3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Twelfth (from C)
(54)
2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Fifteenth
(from C) (54)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trumpet
(TC) (42)
SWELL & CHOIR BASS (58 notes)
Swell treble stops from
Tenor F
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Stop'd
Diapason (37)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Dulciana
(37)
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
(37)
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Flute
(37)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Hautboy
(37)
Choir bass stops
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Stop'd
Diapason (21)
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
(21)
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bassoon
(21)
PEDAL
Twenty* notes pulling down from the Great (*there is some
evidence that there were only 19 notes originally). The Bourdon 16' was added
later.
