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Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, Champaign, Illinois, Opus 25
Holy Family Catholic Church, Rockford, Illinois
It has been a high honor to build this new pipe organ for Holy Family Catholic Church. The worship space was built in the 1970s and seats approximately 1,000 people. A small pipe organ served the parish faithfully until last year, when it had to be removed so that the space could be prepared for the new instrument. That organ has been refurbished and is reliably serving another parish.
Holy Family's organ committee was especially thrilled with the large organ we recently completed at Glenview Community Church, in Glenview, Illinois. Hearing it, and the seamless crescendo of which all of our instruments are capable, captivated them.
Let's be honest about a modern organ's uses. They all need to lead congregational singing, accompany choirs or ensembles, and play a respectable variety of organ literature. But what is it about an individual organbuilder's sound that makes one more successful at certain things than another?
Someone once told me that our organs sound "familiar," and that our instruments conjured up images of his childhood church experiences. Our sound represents a personal evolution, inspired by the great organs of Hook, Johnson, Willis, and Harrison, tempered by the organ reform movement's lessons of classic design and scalings. Our instruments respond to their liturgical requirements by virtue of their warmth, nobility of tone, and inherent musicality. By means of their classic design and scalings, every period of organ literature can be responsibly and musically rendered.
Perhaps this familiarity is a result of building in the mainstream of musical taste and style. But mainstream does not have to be synonymous with "vanilla." First, in our organs there are no exact duplicates of tone color, even within the Diapason choruses. The flues and reeds each have their own color and character at every pitch level, carefully orchestrated so that all the pitches blend well into a full ensemble. Second, our musical sensibilities compel us to reinforce fundamental pitch. Mixtures are pitched, scaled, and voiced so that they offer clarity in the bass and reinforce the fundamental in the mid-range and treble. And we don't shy away from 16' manual pitches. Third, the construction of the organ must facilitate the tonal results. The metal in our pipes is very thick; we use soldered mouths not only on large pipes, but those into the 4-foot range; reed resonators are either of wood, thick spotted metal, or thick copper for an en Chamade; all flue pipes up into the 4-foot octave, and reeds through the 2-foot octave, are supported by heavy felted scallop-traces. Slider chests are an essential component.
The case and console of the Holy Family organ are made of white oak with walnut accents. The pipes in the façade are the low octaves of the Great 16' Double Open Diapason, the Great 8' First Open Diapason, the Great 8' Second Open Diapason and the Pedal 8' Principal. The wood pipes to the right of the case are the Pedal 16' First Open Diapason.
Special thanks to Mr. Bill Stein, director of music at Holy Family Church, to the organ committee, and Monsignor Daniel Hermes for their vision of the new organ, and their commitment to how important a pipe organ really is in contemporary Catholic worship. Thanks also to the staff of John-Paul Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, whose dedication, craft and artistry make these creations possible: John-Paul Buzard, Brian Davis, Stephen P. Downes, Charles Eames, R. Charles Leach, Stuart Martin, Kenneth McCabe, Evan Rench, Jay K. Salmon, Ray Wiggs, Keith Williams.
--John-Paul Buzard
Buzard Opus 25
42 stops, 56 ranks
GREAT (4" wind)
16' Double Open Diapason (façade)
8' First Open Diapason (façade)
8' Second Open Diapason (ext)
8' Flûte à Bibéron
8' Viola da Gamba
4' Principal
4' Spire Flute
2' Fifteenth
2' Mixture V
16' Ophicleide (71⁄2" wind)
8' Tromba (ext)
4' Clarion (ext)
Tremulant
Cymbalstern (14 bells)
8' Major Tuba (15" wind)
8' Tuba Melody Coupler (c25-c61)
8' Pontifical Trumpets (Flamed copper, en chamade, over entry doors, 6" wind)
SWELL (4" wind)
8' Violin Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason (wood)
8' Salicional
8' Voix Celeste
4' Principal
4' Harmonic Flute
2' Flageolet
22⁄3' Full Mixture V
16' Bassoon (full length)
8' Trompette (double blocks)
8' Oboe
4' Clarion (double blocks)
Tremulant
8' Major Tuba (Gt)
8' Tuba Melody Coupler
8' Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
CHOIR (4" wind)
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (wood)
8' English Open Diapason (Willis style)
8' Claribel Flute (open wood)
8' Wood Gedeckt (ext)
8' Flute Celeste (open wood)
4' Principal
4' Koppel Flute
22⁄3' Nazard (tapered)
2' Recorder (tapered)
13⁄5' Tierce
11⁄3' Mixture IV
16' English Horn
8' Trumpet
8' Corno di Bassetto
Tremulant
8' Major Tuba (Gt)
8' Tuba Melody Coupler
8' Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
PEDAL
32' Double Open Diapason (1-12 digital ext of 1st Open)
32' Subbass (1-12 digital ext of Bourdon 16')
32' Lieblich Gedeckt (1-12 digital ext of Gedeckt 16')
16' First Open Diapason (open wood)
16' Second Open Diapason (Gt Double)
16' Bourdon (large stoppered wood)
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Ch)
8' Principal (façade)
8' Bass Flute (ext 1st Open)
8' Spire Flute (tapered metal)
8' Bourdon (ext)
8' Gedeckt Flute (Ch)
4' Choral Bass
4' Open Flute (ext 1st Open)
22⁄3' Mixture IV (prep)
32' Contra Trombone (ext)
16' Trombone (wood ext 8' Tromba)
16' Bassoon (Sw)
8' Tromba (Gt)
4' Clarion (Gt)
8' Major Tuba (Gt)
8' Pontifical Trumpets (Gt)
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Full 16', 8', and 4' couplers
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T. R. Rench and Co., Racine, Wisconsin, has installed a 3-manual organ at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Whitewater, Wisconsin. Although the modern-gothic church was built in the 1960s, an organ was not installed until now, and a grand piano had served as the liturgical instrument. The original architecture of the building provided for two balcony organ chambers located on each side of an impressive stained glass window featuring Patrick, missionary bishop to Ireland. These chambers were enlarged for the present installation. The organ is totally enclosed with each chamber having separate expression.
While the console and organworks were built in the Rench shop, most of the pipework is from the Casavant/Schaeffer organ formerly in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Milwaukee. New pipework includes the Great Mixture IV, Choir Lieblich Flute and mutations, the Clarinet, and the Pedal 16' Trombone.
The tonal result is majestic given the generous scaling of the early 20th-century pipework. Room acoustics are ideal with a reverberation period of over two seconds; the room helps the basses without suppressing the upperwork. With plenty of 8' manual stops, this is an accompanimental organ especially in-tended to meet the needs of congregational singing and the Catholic Mass. There is substantial weight in the Pedal. The wood 16' Double Open Diapason and the 16' Sub Bass are independent stops not extended from the manual divisions.
Organ project leadership was provided by the former pastor, The Rev. Ronald Crewe. Major financial support was from Mr. Bob Romy, a retired farmer. Consultants were Lowell Youngs, Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and The Rev. Thomas Lijewski, priest and organist. The present pastor is The Rev. James Godin and the director of music is Lisa Kysely.
--Thomas R. Rench
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GREAT
16' Contrabass (ext Oct 4', borrowed bass)
8' Open Diapason
8' Melodia
4' Octave
4' Flute d'Amour
2' Fifteenth
IV Mixture (15 19 22 26)
16' Trombone (ext)
8' Tromba
SWELL
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (ext)
8' Diapason
8' Stopped Flute
8' Salicional
8' Vox Celeste
4' Principal
4' Harmonic Flute
22⁄3' Nazard (ext)
2' Principal (ext)
2' Piccolo (ext)
8' Oboe
8' Vox Humana
Tremolo
CHOIR
8' Viola
8' Melodia (Gt)
8' Lieblich Flute
8' Flute Celeste
8' Dulciana
8' Unda Maris
4' Wald Flute
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Flautino
13⁄5' Tierce
8' Clarinet
Tremolo, Gt & Ch
8' Tromba (Gt)
PEDAL
32' Acoustic Sub Bass
16' Double Open Diapason
16' Sub Bass
16' Lieblich Gedeckt (Sw)
8' Octave Bass
8' Bourdon (ext)
8' Gedeckt (Sw)
4' Choral Bass (ext)
16' Trombone (ext)
8' Tromba (Gt)
4' Oboe (Sw)
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Full complement of couplers; MIDI on Great, Swell, Choir, and Pedal
