Orgues Létourneau, St. Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, has built a new organ for First
Baptist Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan. The firm's Opus 55 comprises 54 stops, 67
ranks, and 3,638 pipes over three manuals and pedal. The organ features mechanical key action (except the Trompette en chamade and offset chests, which use electric action), and electric stop and combination action. Manual naturals are of ebony, sharps of maple; pedal naturals of maple, sharps of rosewood;
manual/pedal compass 61/32. Tuning is in equal temperament, A440 at 70 degrees
F. Chests and wood pipes are of finished American yellow poplar. The case is of
finished American red oak. Wind pressures are 70 mm for the Great and Positiv,
Swell 80 mm, Pedal 90 mm, and Trumpet en Chamade 113 mm. The 12 largest pipes
of the Subbass 32' are outside the case. The organ includes the first
full-length 32' reed stop built by the firm. The largest 24 pipes of the 32'
reed and the largest 12 pipes of all the 16' reeds have wooden boots; the
largest 12 pipes of all 16' metal ranks have double-thick metal in the foot.
The consultant was James Kibbie. Karl Schrock is Organist and Director of Music
of the church. (Photo credit John Gilroy.)
From the Director of Music
The new organ writes into the pages of the church's history
and into the frame of its building many connections with the past. In 1870 when
the church decided to replace its portable melodeon with a pipe organ, an apse
was designed and built to house an encased mechanical-action organ. An
E.&G.G. Hook organ was installed in 1871, at that time the largest organ in
Michigan outside of Detroit. In 1911 this instrument was raised, placing choir
and organ on a platform above a central baptistery, and the cross atop the
organ case approached the peak of the arch framing the apse. In 1951 the church
removed the still-functioning Hook organ and installed a more versatile
three-manual Möller electro-pneumatic organ in three enclosed side
chambers, with the console to one side and a divided choir facing each other
instead of the congregation. The arch in front of the resulting empty apse was
filled with a not-supporting wall to accommodate a hand-hewn wooden baptistery
frame and a mural depicting the Tree of Life. In vogue at the time, this new
divided arrangement, in a room with otherwise good acoustics, placed the choir
at a decided disadvantage lamented by choir and congregation alike.
The church's decision to install the 54-stop
Létourneau tracker organ with front central placement restores many
historic features. The choir now faces the congregation as in the parish's
early years. The 1870 apse again houses an encased instrument speaking directly
to the congregation. The church now has one of the largest mechanical action
organs in the state, as in the 19th century. The 1871 wooden cross once more
crowns the organ case near the peak of the apse as in the 1911 arrangement. And
the 1951 hand-hewn wooden baptistery frame is incorporated in the front of the
1998 organ case very close to the frame's prior location.
In addition to these historical connections, the new organ
project points to the future. The instrument's horizontal trumpet symbolically
heralds a grand procession forward through the ages. The chancel renovation
provides better acoustics for both music and speech than ever before, and
movable modesty screens and an extended chancel floor allow flexibility to
accommodate larger forward-facing choruses and orchestras and a wider variety
of uses than were previously possible.
The organ's arrival created such public attention that the
dedicatory recital needed to be played three times, filling the church each
time. A remarkable number of visitors have come to the church from near and
far. The list of donors is almost as large as the entire membership of the
congregation. The chancel renovation and new organ represent an important step
in the congregation's ongoing process of endowing the future of its ministry in
downtown Kalamazoo. For me it is an honor and a profound satisfaction to have spent part of my life and substance enabling the congregation's worship, music, and service in this community to outlive us all.
--Karl Schrock
Organist & Director of Music
GREAT
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Harmonic
flute
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Chimney
flute
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Erzähler
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Octave
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Spitz
flute
22/3' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Quinte
2' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Octave
11/3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Mixture
IV
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Cornet
V (tenor C)
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trumpet
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trumpet
POSITIV
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Holzgedackt
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Gemshorn
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Gemshorn
céleste
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Koppel
flute
22/3' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Nazard
2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Flach
flute
13/5' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Tierce
11/3' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Larigot
1' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Sifflet
1'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Scharff
III
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Dulzian
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Cromorne
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trompette
en chamade
Tremulant
SWELL
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bourdon
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bourdon
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Viole
de gambe
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Voix
céleste (GG)
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Octave
4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Harmonic
flute
2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Block
flute
2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Mixture
IV
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bassoon
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trompette
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Oboe
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Clairon
8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Voix
humaine
Tremulant
PEDAL
32' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Subbass
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Open
Wood
16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Subbass
(ext)
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Principal
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bourdon
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Choralbass
2' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Nachthorn
22/3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Fourniture
IV
32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'> Contrebombarde
(ext)
16' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Bombarde
8' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Trompette
4' style='mso-tab-count:1'> Clairon
