Double Open Diapason 16 61, metal 1st Open Diapason 8 61, metal 2nd Open Diapason 8 61, metal Gemshorn 8 61, metal (nicking filled in with tallow, 1970's) Viola di Gamba 8 61, metal Principal Flute 8 61, wood Doppel Flute 8 61, wood *Quint 5 1/3 61 metal Octave 4 61 metal Gambette 4 61 metal Flute Harmonique 4 61 metal *Octave Quinte 2 2/3 61 metal *Super Octave 2 61 metal *Mixture IV-V (Tierce rank repitched to 1 1/3) *Scharff III 183 metal (contains Tierce rank) *Euphone 16 61 free reed, wood boots *Trumpet 8 61 metal * Enclosed with ChoirNotes
I Choir
Contra Gamba 16 58, metal 1-10 stopped wood Open Diapason 8 58, metal Viol d'Amour 8 58, metal Dulciana 8 58, metal Concert Flute 8 46, wood Rohr Flute 8 58, metal 1-17 stopped wood Quintadena 8 58, wood Fugara 4 58, metal Flute d'Amour 4 58, metal Piccolo Harmonique 2 58, metal Dolce Cornet V 290, metal Clarinet 8 58, metal Vox Humana 8 58, metal Chimes (Ch) (added by Laws?) III Swell Bourdon 16 58, wood Open Diapason 8 58, metal Spitz Flute 8 58, metal Salicional 8 58, metal Dolce 8 58, metal Vox Celestis 8 46, metal Clarabella 8 46, wood Stopped Diapason 8 58, wood Octave 4 58, metal Salicet 4 58, metal Flauto Dolce 4 58, wood Hohl Flute 4 58, metal Flageolet 2 58, metal Cornet III 174, metal Contra Fagotto 16 58, metal Cornopean 8 58, metal Oboe 8 58, metal Clarion 4 58, metal Chimes (Ch) Tremulant IV Echo Keraulophon 8 61, metal Fern Flute 8 61, stopped wood Flauto Traverso 4 61, wood Oboe 8 61, metal Vox Humana 8 61, metal Chimes 8 25 tubes g-g'' (added by Laws?) Tremulant Pedal Resultant 10 2/3 32, wood Open Diapason 16 32, metal Dulciana 16 32, metal Bourdon 16 32, wood Lieblich Gedact 16 (Swell Bourdon) Violoncello 8 32, metal Flute 8 32, open wood Bourdon 8 (Swell Bourdon) Trombone 16 32, wood Couplers Sw-Gt 16, 8, 4 Sw-Ch 16, 8, 4 Ch-Gt 16, 8, 4 Gt-Gt 16, -8, 4 Ch-Ch 16, -8, 4 Sw-Sw 16, -8, 4 Echo-Ch 16,-8,-4 Echo-Gt 16,-8,-4 Echo-Sw 16,-8,-4 Echo-Echo 16, -8, 4 Gt-Ped 8,-4 Ch-Ped 8,-4 Sw-Ped 8,-4 Echo-Ped Pistons 7 General 8 Gt 6 Ch 9 Sw 3 Echo General Cancel Master Swell Pedal Toe Studs Generals 8, 9, 10 5 Pedal Sforzando Gt-Ped Reversible Ch-Ped Reversible Sw-Ped Reversible Echo-Ped Reversible Swell Pedals Great/Choir Swell Echo Crescendo Mixture Compositions Mixture IV-V Scharff III Cornet III 12-15-17 Dolce Cornet V 1-8-12-15-17 dulciana scale
Facade in cherry, stained to imitate mahogany; pipes rough
plastered and gilded.
There is also an interesting Crescendo Check. A knob sliding in
a horizontal slot can be put in one of 10 positions. Rods
behind the pedal limit the travel of the crescendo pedal to
1/10, 2/10, 3/10, etc. of full travel, depending on the position
of the Crescendo Check knob.
The facade has a total of 87 pipes, 61 of them playing, from the Great Open
Diapasons and Pedal Dulciana. The
chambers are all very generous. Wide walk-ways and stairs with
railings give easy access to everything (except that one of the
three-note extension chests added by Laws blocks one walk-way).
The original tubing for gas lights in the chambers are still
extant.
From "Hilborne Roosevelt Organs," trade publication, 1888:
This magnificent instrument is specially noteworthy, being one of the largest three
manual organs ever constructed, either in this country or abroad. It is also of unusual
magnitude as compared with the size of the church in which it stands and serves to
illustrate how, with the exercise of good judgment in the choice of stops and their
voicing, an organ which would be pronounced by the majority as far too large for an
auditorium of limited capacity, can be adapted to it with perfect propriety and without
overdoing the matter.
One of the most important features in securing such good
results is the extensive resource had to the placing of pipes within Swell-boxes. The
Swell itself is of unusual amplitude, consisting of 18 stops, and in its box are
included the Quint, Octave Quinte, Super Octave, Mixture, Scharff, Euphone and Trumpet
of the Great Organ, thus enabling the organist to subdue at will these usually
assertive stops and utilize their tones in a far more extended field than is commonly
practicable.
The Choir Organ also is independently enclosed by a box of its own,
a device which greatly enhances its value and is productive of many charming effects of
expresion, in general only obtainable by the use of the Swell Organ.
From the
above it will be readily seen that, with such an unprecedented proportion of the whole
instrument placed within Swell-boxes, viz: 38 stops out of 55 (exclusive of the Echo),
a
The amount of 8 feet flue work is also in excess of that usually met with, and is
thus increased in order to form a foundation of extra solidity, and insue the production
of that impressive and dignified body of tone which is the noblest feature of the "King
of Instruments."
The Swell Super Octave Coupler
The Couplers are to be found in a horizontal row immediately above the Swell
keyboard.
All the Claviers are of the "overhanging" type, and the relative
disposition and measurements of the keybox contents are all of the most universally
approved standard, the woodwork of the same being highly polished ebony and mahogany.
The entire Drawstop Action is "tubular," and therefore free from the troubles
that mechanical connections are subject to, besides which it simplifies the interior
arrangements, and dispenses with a great bulk of rods, rollers, squares, &c.
The
Pedal Ventil admits of instantly reducing the Pedal Organ to a
The Choir "off," Echo "on" Ventil is a Pedal
whereby the Choir Organ is detached from its keyboard at the same instant that the Echo
is connected, or
The "Roosevelt Windchests" are here used exclusively, rendering the
"touch" light and agreeable, and securing perfection in "repetition," to a most
marvelous degree. They will be found fully described on page 11.
The Action
throughout serves as a specially perfect sample of the highest class of workmanship.
The greatest care has been exercised, and every known precaution resorted to, to
eliminate friction, noise, lost motion and all the evils that this sort of mechanism is
liable to. Every point of contact is "bushed," every piece of small hadware, whether of
brass or iron (exceptiong the screws), is silvered, nickeled or tinned, and
adjustability is accomplished at every joint.
The Case, from the design of G.A.
Audsley, F.R.I.B.A., of London, is of cherry wood, finished in a rich color, similar to
that of antique mahogany, and the workmanship is as perfect as that of the finest
drawing-room furniture. Though adhering to no strict style of architecture, it is in
perfect harmony with the interior of the building, and its pleasing and noble effect is
the result of artistic proportions and architectural construction, rather than
unnecessary and undue elaboration with carvings, which is so often met with in, and
rendered necessary by, less perfect designs. The decoration of the front pipes is
exceedingly handsome and of a novel character, affording an effect far richer than
ordinary gilding or coloring.
The Echo Organ, so seldom met with and productive
of such exquisite effects, here consists of an organ of five speaking stops, situated a
high up as possible in an extension of the main building which is separated from the
body of the church by a solid wall back of the pulpit. Its wind is brought from the
feeders of the main organ, through a large galvanized iron pipe to a "regulator" in its
immediate vicinity, and from thence it passes to the windchest and pipes. The action of
both keys and drawstops is electric, the wires being controlled by the Choir manual,
and the speech is marked by perfect promptitude. The total length of wire used is two
and one half miles, and but a few cells of "Le Clanche" battery supply all the
necessary electricity. In addition ot the subdued and sweet tone imparted to all the
pipes by their remote position, the Vox Humana is rendered more imitative and realistic
than it can ever be when otherwise located. To connect the Echo it is only necessary to
draw the "Echo Ventil" stop, situated above the Swell keyboard.
The Blowing
Apparatus is located in a large room in the cellar beneath the vestibule. There are
three "Jaques Improved Hydraulic Engines," viz: two large ones, of 6" diameter, for
supplying wind to the pipes, and one of a smaller size to generate a high pressure for
the combination pneumatics. Each of the 6 inch engines is firmly framed to a pair of
extremely large direct horizontal acting square feeders, from which the wind is led,
through capacious wind-trunks, to the bellows in the organ. The third engine controls
the feeders of an ordinary small bellows to which it is framed and which is heavily
weighted, the wind passing in a similar manner direct to the pneumatics. All the air
that enters the feeder room is drawn from the organ through large air-shafts, thus
preventing the detrimental effects that would be caused by forcing cellar air through
the instrument. The water valves are automatically controlled by the rise and fall of
the bellows, so that the speed of the engines is regulated by the demands made for
wind, and NO WATER IS WASTED. From the bellows the compressed air is conveyed to a
"regulator," which insures ABSOLUTE STEADINESS, and from thence it is distributed to
the different departments of the organ. To avoid friction, and consequent loss of
pressure when the utmost demands are being made on the wind supply, all the wind-trunks
have been made of extraordiary sectional area and right angled bends in the same
studiously avoided. Each trunk is fitted with a "concussion bellows" or "lung" to
prevent unsteadiness arising from the recoil caused buy the simultaneous closing of
many pallets, and a flexible joint to avoid the weight of windchest and pipes being
transferred from the frame to it, by possible shrinkage or the settling of the floor.
In this instrument is to be found our latest form of Adjustable Combination
Action, explained in detail on page 12. The Great Organ has five thumb Pistons,
situated beneath its keyboard, which govern the Great and Pedal stops, and the Couplers
numbered 61, 62 and 66. There are also five Pistons for the Swell and three for the
Chir, the former controlling the Swell stops and Nos. 64, 65, and 68, the latter the
Choir stops and Nos. 63, 67 and 69. In addition to these there are three Pedals
assigned to the Pedal Organ stops alone. As this contrivance enables the player to
place any combination of stops he may require under immediate control, altering such
combinations as frequently as may be desired, instead of being compelled to use
invariably the arbitrary and unalterable selection placed at his disposal by the usual
form of Combination Pedals, it completely accomplishes all that is sought, even by
those who ask the most of this class of mechanism, whose office it is to afford the
greatet possible convenience for the control of the instrument, in registration, by the
organist. Practically it presents limitless resources, and its possible number of
varied adaptations to instantaneous changes is evidently infinte. The Voicing in
general is of special merit, displaying an unusual number of soft and delicate effects,
and we have been most successful in maintaining the characteristic quality of tone in
the different stops as well as securing the most perfect blending of the whole in the
noble and massive power of full organ, in which brilliancy is apparent, but harshness
is conspicuous by its absence. The Diapasons throughout are preeminently satisfactory,
and, as solo stops, special attention may be called to the two Vox Humanas, the Euphone
(which is a free reed of the most refined voicing), the Viola di Gamba, Doppel Flote,
Flute Harmonique, Vox Celestis, Concert Flute, Quintadena, the two Oboes and the Dolce
Cornet, which last is a mixture stop in fact but a most charming and rare solo in
effect.
The Organ stands in the West-end gallery, opposite the pulpit and over
the vestibule. Its dimensions are:
Width-30', Depth-21', Height-29'.
The church formerly housed Johnson, op. 101, 1860, photograph of which appears in:
John Van Varick Elsworth: The Johnson Organs (1984), p. 12.
Return to Pipe Organs in Great Barrington, MA
Return to Berkshire AGO home page