Trophy Builders and their Instruments

In his seminal article "The Economics of Superstars," in The American Economic Review1, Sherwin Rosen, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and recently (1994) honored as vice president of the American Economic Association, analyzed what he termed "an increasingly important market phenomenon in our time" and developed the economic implications of it. This is the phenomenon of the superstar, the tendency of talented performers to be singled out as superior to all others and, thereby, to dominate the market in which they perform. He asserted that the paradigm is found virtually everywhere in contemporary economic life; in professional athletics, arts and letters and in show business. In economic parlance, the analytical framework is "a special type of assignment problem, the marriage of buyers to sellers, including the assignment of audiences to performers, of students to textbooks, patients to doctors, and so forth."2  Superstars all share what is termed "box office appeal" which is the ability to attract a large following (audience) and to generate a substantial volume of transactions. Rosen was quick to comment that there is no magic formula for becoming a superstar but it involves a combination of talent and charisma in uncertain proportions.

Professional athletes and rock singers are obvious examples of superstars today. However, Rosen gives one interesting example from the world of music which occurred nearly two hundred years ago and which was cited by the eminent nineteenth-century English economist Alfred Marshall.3 In 1801, a Mrs. Elizabeth Billington reportedly earned the then princely sum of between £10,000 and £15,000 singing Italian Opera in Covent Garden and Drury Lane.4 With her extraordinary voice she defined Italian opera and female vocal performance to the sophisticated urban gentry who flocked to her performances throughout her career and who discounted other singers of lesser ability.

Upon reflection, the author, an economist and longtime student of market phenomena and the economics of pipe organ building, believes the concept of superstars described by Rosen has a novel and intriguing application to the King of Instruments and its builders in the last 100 years. Perhaps it offers a partial explanation of the quixotic, always fascinating, and endlessly intriguing market for the pipe organ and for the fortunes of several builders. A glance at the history of the industry shows that certain builders enjoyed a large following or "box office appeal" during their era. What was the combination of "talent and charisma" that accounted for their success?

Our definition of superstar as it applies to the pipe organ hinges upon the ability of a builder to preempt substantially a particular market during his era through tonal or mechanical characteristics, perhaps working together, in his instruments. This builder virtually redefines the pipe organ with the result that previous instruments are now considered obsolete and the work of other builders noncompetitive. In economic analysis this concept rests upon "imperfect substitution" among sellers which, in the superstar market phenomenon, means that buyers invariably will single out a particular product or service as best meeting their (individual and group) needs. They do not consider other products and services to be an acceptable alternative. Parallel to Rosen's observation of a conspicuous concentration of output among sellers who have the most talent (as in rock singers) is the share of certain nameplates in particular well-defined markets for pipe organs. Although the pipe organ historically has had a large and diverse audience, we must look at specific categories of the general market:  movie theaters in the 1920s in which Wurlitzer fits the definition, the residential market of that period in which Aeolian gets the nod, and the college and university market in the immediate postwar period in which Holtkamp is the outstanding example, and Schlicker is perhaps a very good one.

A word of caution: definitions and concepts are always arbitrary and frequently narrow. Thus they will evoke different interpretations and diverging opinions among other observers. The author elects to make Rosen's word "superstar" synonymous with his own term "trophy builder." The readers, in their definition of trophy builders and instruments, may elect to focus on certain instruments (The Mormon Tabernacle), regions (New England), the work of tonal architects and voicers (Richard O. Whitelegg) or inventions and systems (John T. Austin). Or, they may wish to recognize, if not include in the definition, Robert Hope-Jones, whose pioneering work in the emerging instrument at the turn of the century, was to exert a pronounced influence on the industry. Well and good. The author merely hopes that his own interpretation in the following discussion will shed light on a unique aspect of the rich history of pipe organ building in America.

Our first illustration of the superstar concept in American organbuilding is Hilborne L. Roosevelt. His instrument for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and many that followed, were truly a watershed in the evolution of the pipe organ. As noted historian Orpha Ochse observed: "One may say that the Roosevelt organs actually marked the beginning of a new era in organ history."5 Through successful application of electricity in non-mechanical action and the introduction of several new stops, he, in effect, redefined the instrument. Now tracker action was increasingly considered out of style in the growing urban market characterized by the construction of large churches.  The new voices, embracing the European romantic tradition, made possible in part by the new action, suggested that the tonal pallet of the tracker was out of date as well.  His instruments embodied the hallmarks of the new era:  liberal use of enclosed divisions in divided chambers, echo divisions, a detached console,  adjustable combination action and the electric motor blower for wind supply.  The affluent urban customer got the message: there was something new in  pipe organs out there. They were quick to recognize it and they were interested.  Roosevelt's star rose swiftly and in the brief two decades he flourished he won what must have been a lion's share of the business in New York City, and important contracts elsewhere as well. News of the "new organ" traveled swiftly across the country. Thus we had Roosevelt instruments in Danville, Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri, among other  small cities, all of considerable distance from New York. The most widely publicized instrument of the Roosevelt era, if not in retrospect its crown jewel, was the four-manual for the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, Long Island.6

Ernest Skinner, who was to pick up the baton after Roosevelt's untimely death (and his brother's decision to liquidate the business), acknowledged Roosevelt's position in the evolution of the instrument and the industry when he wrote: "Many organs were built by Roosevelt according to the above plan (individual valve chest), which, together with his fine tone, earned for him the most distinguished name of any builder of his time."7

The next trophy builder, who fits our definition eloquently, is the renowned Ernest M. Skinner. Roosevelt had opened the door to a new era; now Skinner would hoist his banner and march triumphantly through the city church landscape for the next three decades.  The Skinner name became a household word and defined the pipe organ among the knowledgeable urban gentry. What Tiffany was to glass Skinner was to the pipe organ among socially conscious city folks. "And we have a Skinner Organ" is one of the ways these people described their churches. This type of product identification, with perhaps no parallel in the pipe organ industry, is the dream of every advertising manager in business today. Skinner also enjoyed the same preferred position in the college and university market during his era that Holtkamp and Schlicker were to savor in the period after World War II.

Like Roosevelt's, Skinner's instruments were a combination of mechanical and tonal innovations. "The mechanical and tonal factors of the organ are dependent upon each other for a fulfillment of their purposes,"8 he wrote. A major contributor was the pitman windchest, light-years ahead of the Roosevelt ventil system, which would stand the test of time and be adopted by numerous builders in succeeding decades. The origins of the pitman action are found, no doubt, in the many experimenters in single-valve action during the turn of the century.  One of them, reportedly, was August Gern, Cavaillé-Coll's foreman, who later built organs in England under his own name. But it remained for Skinner to take it to Mount Olympus. When the lightning fast pitman key action (thirty-three milliseconds between key touch and pipe speech) and equally responsive (and quiet) stop action was coupled with exotic orchestral voices, the Skinner organ quickly became the "box office favorite."

William H. Barnes listed the stops, not always invented by Skinner, but developed and utilized in his trophy installations, which became hallmarks of his work and era. All stops are 8' unless otherwise noted.9

Erzähler-Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut

Orchestral Oboe-Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York

English Horn (8' and 16')-City College, New York

French Horn-Williams College, Williamstown, Masssachusetts

Kleine Erzähler-Fourth Presbyterian, Chicago

Gross Gedeckt-Second Congregational, Holyoke, Massachusetts

Corno Di Bassetto-Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Tuba Mirabilis-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

French Trumpet-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

Orchestral Bassoon (16')-Skinner Studio, Boston

Gambe Celeste-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

Bombarde (32')-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

Violone (32')-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

Sub Bass (32')-Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York

Contra Bassoon (32')-Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Skinner's icon image was eloquent confirmation of the fact  that an organbuilding enterprise is the lengthened shadow of the key figure behind it.  As his biographer Dorothy Holden wrote:  "In all truth, it was this ability to infuse his instruments with all the vitality, warmth, and charm of his own personality that created the very essence of the Skinner organ."10

The Aeolian Skinner organ was the gold standard for affluent urbanites with champagne tastes, many of them Episcopalians, who viewed the church and its appointments as the logical extension of their commanding economic and social position in the community. That the instrument was built in Boston, the fountainhead of American culture, was reassuring, and the name Skinner in the logo denoted continuity with a firm of established reputation. G. Donald Harrison had filled E. M. Skinner's shoes admirably and moved ahead to carve out his own niche in the pantheon of great American builders.

Harrison's lasting imprint on American pipe organ heritage began about 1932; for example, in Northrup Auditorium at the University of Minnesota, and was well-established in 1935 with Groton School and Church of the Advent in Boston instruments, which in the public mind were the cornerstones of his era. These two trophy instruments were  milestones in the emergence of the American Classic tradition of which he was the leading exponent during his time. As Ochse explains: "He coupled an appreciation for some of the outstanding European styles with his thorough background in English organ building."11 His goal was an eclectic instrument on which all schools and styles of organ music could be played with clarity and with reasonable authenticity.

In superstar products, endorsement is a key to status as is the demonstration effect, which is the identification of purchasers with peer groups and the desire to emulate them. With Aeolian-Skinner the demonstration effect was most important and endorsement not as crucial. When prospective clients were reminded of the Skinner legacy and shown the opus list: Symphony Hall Boston, St. Thomas Episcopal, New York and Fourth Presbyterian, Chicago, to name a few, they said "that's us" and signed up.  With Holtkamp and Schlicker, on the other hand, endorsement was paramount.

The Aeolian Duo Art pipe organ was the instrument of choice among the business and social elite in the first three decades of this century.  Their opulent life style was anchored in castles, Italian villas and French chateaus featuring mirrored ballrooms, manicured gardens and pipe organs and was augmented  frequently by polo fields, yachts and private railroad cars. The Aeolian reputation was initially distinguished by its self-playing mechanism and superior roll library.  Then, the nameplate took over. The "Lords of Creation" were only too glad to pay steep prices for the Aeolian instrument in order to "keep up with the Joneses." Below is a sampling of familiar names  among the captains of industry who had Aeolian Duo Art residence organs.12

Dodge, Horace E., Detroit, Michigan

Dodge, John F., Detroit, Michigan

Firestone, H. S., Akron, Ohio

Ford, Edsel B., Detroit, Michigan

Kettering, C. F., Dayton, Ohio

Olds, R. E., Lansing, Michigan

Packard, W. D., Warren, Ohio

Seiberling, F. A., Akron, Ohio

Studebaker, J. M., Jr., South Bend, Indiana

Armour, J. O., Lake Forest, Illinois

Cudahay, J. M., Lake Forest, Illinois

DuPont, Irenee, Wilmington, Delaware

DuPont, Pierre S., Wilmington, Delaware

Swift, G. F. Jr., Chicago, Illinois

Woolworth, F. W., New York, New York

Wrigley, Wm. Jr., Chicago, Illinois

Bok, Edward, Merion, Pennsylvania

Curtis, C.H.K., Wyncote, Pennsylvania

Pulitzer, Mrs. Joseph, New York, New York

Scripps, W. E., Detroit, Michigan

Flagler, John H., Greenwich, Connecticut

Harriman, E. H., Arden, New York

Vanderbilt, W. K., New York, New York

Vanderbilt, W. K. Jr., Northport, Long Island, New York

Carnegie, Andrew, New York, New York

Frick, H. C., Pride's Crossing, Massachusetts

Rockefeller, John D., Pocantico Hills, New York

Rockefeller, John D., Jr., New York, New York

Schwab, Charles M., New York, New York

Teagle, Walter C., Portchester, New York

The tidal wave of capital pouring into the construction of movie theaters after the turn of the century created an insatiable demand for the wondrous new musical medium, the theater pipe organ, pioneered in concept by Robert Hope-Jones. Investors clamored to capture the fortunes awaiting them in motion pictures, a spectacular new form of mass entertainment. No movie theater, be it an ornate palace in a downtown metropolitan area or a small town storefront cinema, was complete (or competitive) without a theater organ. The demand spawned an entirely new industry--Barton, Link, Robert Morton, Marr & Colton, Page and, of course, Wurlitzer which, bolstered by  clever streetcar advertising, became the generic term for the theater organ. What Kodak was to amateur photography and Gillette was to shaving, Wurlitzer was  to the theater pipe organ.

The new industry emerged because the theater organ was a radically different instrument; characterized by significantly higher wind pressures, the horseshoe console, unification of the stoplist, and the tibia and kinura, among others, as distinctive voices in the tonal pallet.  Other builders produced theater organs, chiefly during the years of peak demand, but they were primarily identified with the church instrument and market. We award Wurlitzer the trophy accolade because their output of over 2,000 instruments was more than twice the number of their nearest competitor Robert Morton, who built slightly fewer than 900.13

Walter Holtkamp was a true innovator in the Schumpeterian sense, i.e., the concrete expression of ideas in marketable goods.  He had the wisdom and good judgment to recognize that the classical revival and the North German paradigm, which he sought to emulate, required a radical departure from existing norms. It was not a matter of substituting a stop here and there, of lowering wind pressure an inch or two, or of dispensing with the ubiquitous strings and celestes of the 1920's. It would begin with the wholesale elimination of melodias, cornopeans, flutes d'amour and numerous other stops, all arranged in a horizontal tonal pallet dominated by the eight-foot pitch with an occasional four-foot stop. He would introduce a vertical tonal pallet with a pitch range of 16' through mixtures, and underscore the principal as the foundation of  an organ chorus. Capped or semi-capped flutes would provide color and harmonic development and blend well. He would use primarily chorus reeds of Germanic "free tone" style as opposed to "dark tone" English reeds in his ensemble.

To his great credit, Holtkamp surrounded himself with knowledgeable people, and these persons of influence found in him the pathfinder who would lead them to the promised land of a baroque organ. He was said to be a stubborn man but he was a good listener.  William H. Barnes remarked that he had the good fortune to be located in Cleveland where he benefited enormously from the friendship and support of three important people in the organ reform movement: Walter Blodgett, Arthur Quimby and Melville Smith.14 As his biographer John Ferguson noted: "The continuing association with organists and musicians sympathetic to his ideas was of central importance to the development of his work."15 His close collaboration with architects legitimatized bringing the organ out of chambers and resulted in the distinctive "Holtkamp look."  Widely copied by other builders, it was a distinguishing feature of his instruments and era.

After World War II he built a group of loyal followers, many of them academics, led by Arthur Poister of Oberlin and Syracuse, whose students moved on to choice academic and church positions and spread the gospel of Holtkamp.  Soon he enjoyed a preferred if not a virtual monopoly position in the upscale college and university market where these leaders of the organist profession flourished.

The Holtkamp organ was the marquee instrument for academe.  To have a Holtkamp was to make a statement.  Installations at Yale University and the University of California at Berkeley as well as Syracuse University and Oberlin College, quickly convinced many schools, including small colleges like Erskine in Due West, South Carolina, that an important milestone on the road to academic excellence and peer recognition was a Holtkamp organ. Invidious comparison and competitive emulation (Thorstein Veblen) were--and are--alive and well in academe. Thus it is no mere coincidence that each of the three prestigous women's colleges in Virginia--Hollins, Sweetbriar and Randolph-Macon--has a three-manual Holtkamp instrument. When Hollins got the first one, the other two schools could not have done anything else. 

Other builders couldn't compete with him in this market. As one industry veteran, who asked not to be identified, remarked: "If they were interested in a Holtkamp or a Schlicker, we knew we might as well fold our tent." This market had pre-judged other builders and in the clamor for peer recognition; it was the name that counted. Even if other builders used the same scales and voicing techniques, they could not build a Holtkamp organ. Poister, a grand person who was widely acknowledged as one of the finest organ teachers of his or any generation, exerted what can only be described as a fantastic influence on the fortunes of this builder. His championing of the Holtkamp organ was surely the equal of the endorsement for breakfast foods and athletic footwear by professional athletes today.

The market for a neobaroque instrument embracing the Orgelbewegung movement was growing and the established industry was caught with an image problem it could not yet overcome, opening the door for yet another builder to rise to prominence and by redefining the instrument and capturing a preferred position in a specific market, to achieve trophy status under our definition. This was Herman Schlicker. His launching pad was the rebuild of the 1893 Johnson organ in the Grace Episcopal Church in Sandusky, Ohio in 1950 with the advice and encouragement of Robert Noehren.16 Schlicker would go on to etch his definition of the pipe organ in bold relief: a comparatively severe instrument earmarked by a mild fundamental, a shift in the tonal balance with an emphasis on upperwork, and a reduction in the percentage of strings in the tonal resources as well as a preference for 18th-century strings of an almost soft principal timbre to the exclusion of romantic (pencil) strings. Baroque style chorus and color reeds were featured in stoplists favoring early music, often suggesting the Praetorius mantra (reflecting the influence of close friend and confidant Paul Bunjes). 

To augment his tonal resources, Schlicker devised a "Tonkanzell" electropneumatic windchest featuring a long channel with the valve closing against a side rail as opposed to closing directly under the toehole as in conventional pouch-action chests. This was designed to buffer aerodynamically the effect of the opening valve on the pipe foot and to approximate the wind characteristics of the slider chest.17 He was also an early advocate of the slider chest in nonmechanical construction and incorporated it in several instruments.

Schlicker's tonal philosophy and his instruments were especially appealing to German Lutheran congregations eager to embrace their historical roots and to academics who shared his definition of the pipe organ. Robert Noehren, from his lofty perch as university organist and  professor at the University of Michigan, enjoyed a wide following at one of the thriving centers for graduate study in organ during this period. His recordings, recitals and convention appearances earned for him a stellar reputation as a leading spokesman for the organ reform movement and, thereby, directly and indirectly for the Schlicker instrument.  E. Power Biggs also was caught  up in the Schlicker movement.18 The importance of endorsements by key spokesmen cannot be overestimated in the fortunes of the Schlicker Company.

By 1970 a phalanx of American organists had traveled to Europe--on sabbaticals, tours and Fulbright Scholarships-- and been introduced to many schools and streams of historical organbuilding. They became aware of new possibilities in their own situations and responsive to a domestic builder who articulated their ideas. This was Charles Fisk. His Harvard background was convincing and his Boston location reassuring. In his writings and appearances before professional groups, Fisk conveyed an in-depth knowledge of European instruments, his own sympathy with continental ideas and his ability to execute them.

The epic two-manual tracker organ Fisk built at Mt. Calvary Church in Baltimore in 1961 was earmarked by the werkprinzip in case design, suspended key action and, in this example, the tonal philosophy of Andreas Silbermann.19  This instrument was his springboard to an illustrious, though tragically short, career. He became the first American tracker builder to challenge successfully the dominance of such European builders as Flentrop, Rieger and von Beckerath, in the construction of large instruments. In response to a loyal and enthusiastic following, Fisk built a number of contemporary organs as well as period instruments patterned after specific historical antecedents. His rise to prominence is further evidence that each generation looks for--and finds--a new trophy builder, a shiny new nameplate that commands that elusive "box office appeal" and with it an unchallengeable (monopoly) position in a particular market. Over the years his instruments at Harvard and Stanford clinched his reputation much as Holtkamp's organs at Yale and Berkeley had done for him--a reputation still well-deserved  by the Fisk firm after the premature passing of Charles Fisk.

The trophy builder analysis based upon Rosen's superstar phenomenon, offers a useful perspective on the all-important market dimension of the economics of the pipe organ industry.  Its ingredients are: tonal and mechanical innovation, location, the demonstration effect and endorsement, and each generation's search for something new under the sun. Veblen's time honored psycho-social phenomenon of invidious comparison and competitive emulation cannot be ignored.  Who will be the next trophy builder?

Perhaps this  builder will reflect the swing of the pendulum back to the romantic tradition and the emergence of an eclectic instrument embracing the contemporary as well as an historical perspective in liturgical music. This builder, and the entire industry, must be able to confirm the stature of the pipe organ within the myriad of musical options such as synthesizers, sequencers and auto-accompaniment being promoted today. The King of Instruments must be recognized as the legitimate and time-honored vehicle for musical expression in corporate worship. In retrospect, the history of the instrument in the American experience is perhaps closely tied to the fortunes of the mainline denominations and the middle class, both increasingly challenged by the sweeping socio-economic changes now evident in our society. Ethnic and language characteristics of migrant populations mitigate against identification with traditional religious groups and the realities of a rapidly changing global marketplace impact the wage profile and employment structure of our economy.  As one industry veteran explained, the danger as we move into the 21st century is that "the reorganization of religious expression makes the sounds of the pipe organ less vital to 'religiousness,' hence less important."20 Our challenge is to reverse this mindset and to assert that the pipe organ is central to musical expression in religion and these other developments are ancillary to it.