|
|
|
||||||||
[ main ]
G. A. AUDSLEY, ORGAN ARCHITECT
Leaving the old City of Elgin, in the north of Scotland, at the age of eighteen, with only a very superficial knowledge of organ matters, gathered from a small instrument of one clavier and four or five speaking stops--the only organ in the city at that time--and arriving in Liverpool in the Autumn of 1856; I took an early opportunity of attending a Recital on the Grand Organ, which had been installed, only the year before, in St. George's Hall; and which was presided over by the distinguished organist, William T. Best. A remarkable combination--the greatest living organist; and the grandest organ that had ever been constructed.
My feelings under the unique conditions, and as I listened, almost spell-bound, for the first time, to the floods of glorious tone that poured forth from the hundred stops of that majestic instrument, can, perhaps, be imagined by some organ-lovers who may have had a somewhat similar experience. The Recital was a revelation; and I left the Hall with a strange feeling of elation, knowing that so long as I resided in Liverpool there would be three Recitals every week on that matchless organ--any or all of which I could enjoy. I did not--could not--realize what that privilege meant then, and would mean to me in years to come. . G. A. Audsley. An unfinished and unpublished chapter for The Temple of Tone (New York: J. Fischer & Bro., 1925). Quotation contained in T. Scott Buhrman, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," The Temple of Tone (New York: J. Fischer & Bro., 1925), 247.
G. A. Audsley waited until the very last moments of his life to set down in writing the origins of his interest in the organ, the foregoing having been written by him on the morning of 21 June 1925, the day of his death. He had been raised in an area somewhat inhospitable to the organ as the prevailing Calvinist tradition often excluded its use from church services. He eventually sought the more cosmopolitan atmosphere of Liverpool where his brother had earlier relocated.
St. George's Hall was the result of a design completion won in April 1840 by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes (1814-47). It consisted of two large courtrooms and attendant facilities surrounding a vaulted great hall measuring roughly 72 by 163 feet. A smaller semicircular auditorium was placed at the northern end of the 300 foot long building. Upon the untimely death of the original architect, Charles Robert Cockrell (1788-1863) completed the building in 1854 at a final cost of £290,000. The result was one of the most admired neo-Classical style buildings of the nineteenth century:
Nothing could surpass the beauty of the Neo-Grec ornament selected for terminating the dominating attic. The whole building fulfills the highest canons of the academic style, and is unsurpassed by any other modern building in Europe....St. George's hall as it stands to-day [1914] epitomises the various attributes which constitute the monumental manner. Its site is magnificent, and the character of the structure stands for the dignity of official Liverpool. . Albert E. Richardson, Monumental classical Architecture in Great Britain and Ireland During the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914), 86
The reverberous great hall was intended for civic functions and was provided with a large organ. The instrument was built by Henry Willis of London to the designs of S. S. Wesley, who inaugurated the instrument on 29 May 1855. . George Laing Miller, The Recent Revolution in Organ Building (New York: The Charles Francis Press, 1913), 153. In 1867, municipal organist W. T. Best persuaded authorities to have the instrument adjusted to equal temperament. A major renovation occurred in 1898 which included the installation of tubular pneumatic action. Audsley subsequently lamented the tonal changes made at that time. He also came to regard the acoustics of the great hall as less than ideal and had misgivings about the organ case designed by Cockrell. . G. A. Audsley, The Art of Organ-Building (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1905), vol. 1, 136, 246.
As Audsley's interest in the organ increased, he began to visit organbuilding firms in England and abroad. In 1876, he claimed to have had the "opportunity of examining and studying the construction of nearly all the representative organs in Europe." . G. A. Audsley, "Practical Hints for Amateur Organ-Builders," The English Mechanic and World of Science (21 Jan. 1876). By 1888 he could state:
The for five and twenty years I have studied organ-building in this country and in Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and in the United States. I have spent days in foreign workshops, and days inside such organs as those of Lucerne, Fribourg [sic], St. Sulpice, and Garden City [Long Island, New York]. . G. A. Audsley, Letter, The English Mechanic and World of Science (3 Feb. 1888):534.
He ultimately put into practice what he had learned by constructing a home-made organ, which he regarded very highly:
The first instrument made in Europe, in which any attempt was essayed to produce what could be properly designated a Chamber Organ, was that we constructed, in our own residence in England, between the years 1865 and 1872, and subsequently enlarged. . G. A. Audsley, The Organ of the Twentieth Century (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1919), 333.
AUDSLEY RESIDENCE ORGAN
Specification in 1876 . G. A. Audsley, "Practical Hints to Amateur Organ-Builders --V," The English Mechanic and World of Science #576 (7 Apr. 1876):85.
"Seventeen sounding stops including:"
16 Double Open Diapason
16 Bourdon
8 Open Diapason
8 Trumpet
4 Principal
V Mixture
II Mixture
Five couplers.
Final Specification
First Clavier
Unenclosed:
8 m Principale Grande
Enclosed in box #1:
8 w Flauto Tedesca
4 w Flauto Traverso
2 m Piccolo
8 m Oboe
Enclosed in box #2:
8 w Flauto Primo
8 m Flauto Secono
8 tin Viola d'Amore
4 m Ottava
V Ripineo di Cinque
8 m Tromba
8 m Clarinetto
8 m Voce Umana
Second Clavier
Enclosed in box #1:
8 m Principale Dolce
8 m Corno di Caccia
4 w Flauto d'Amore
Pedal
16 w Principale [open]
16 w Contra-Basso [stopped]
16 m Contra-Saxophone
Tremulant
Couplers: Second to First: unison, octave, suboctave; First to Pedal; Second to Pedal.
Balanced expression pedals for box #1 and box #2.
Pedal for forte combination in box #1.
Pedal for piano combination in box #2.
2-3/8 inch wind.
In my Organ all the stops were labeled in Italian, and some names were unknown in ordinary stop nomenclature. Every organist who came to play my Organ for the first time I put to a test. I drew two stops, and told him to play on the lower clavier, and use the left Expression Lever. Then I asked him to tell me what he had been playing (the Italian names of the stops did not help him), and invariable answer was, "I do not know. It was very beautiful, but I never heard the effect before." They tried again and again, looked at the stop names, then gave up the question. They were surprised when told that they had played a Dulciana, in one Swell-box, with expression, and a Five-rank Dulciana Cornet in another Swell-box, closed. The effect was startling. It was like a beautiful hymn or song accompanied by a Chorus of Angels. . G. A. Audsley, Letter to Gregory Hügle, O.S.B, 24 Jan. 1925. Archives of Conception Abbey, Conception, MO.
The completed instrument served as the center of some rather elaborate musical events at the Audsley home in Liverpool and subsequently in Chiswick. One concert required the services of two violons, violoncello, horn, and piano, in addition to the organ. . G. A. Audsley, The Organ of the Twentieth Century (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1919), 337. Audsley must have taken great delight in arranging these events. The Music Division of the New York Public Library preserves a copy of a elaborately printed program Audsley prepared for one occasion. A number of prominent organists played Audsley's organ and he was quite fond of recording their praise of it. He also made a point of stating that his music room was a rare example of where the piano and organ were given the same pitch and temperament so as to be usable together:
The beautiful effect of duet-playing with piano and organ is as yet little known, but I am sure it is destined to find many admirers. The common impression that the organ must be too powerful for, or totally destructive of the piano tone, is altogether unfounded. This I have proved by two instruments in my own possession. The organ in question has seventeen stops....The piano is a "Steinway" square grand. . G. A. Audsley, "Practical Hints for Amateur Organ-Builders," The English Mechanic and World of Science (7 Apr. 1876):85.
At some point, Audsley felt confident to offer his services as a professional organ consultant. This activity is mentioned in an 1889 published letter written by organ voicer Carlton C. Michell, and in Audsley's reply:
But here lies the grievance. If, with very moderate outlay, much finer results can be obtained upon the simplified system than upon the old one of multiplication, Mr. Audsley will not succeed as an amateur in persuading intending buyers to pay the increased cost which his ideas involve, beside the commission which he disinterestedly charges for his advice, when they can go direct to the professional experts and manufacturers and save both charges with better results. . Carlton C. Michell, Letter, The English Mechanic and World of Science (3 May 1889): 198.
I trust I shall be more fortunate in being paid than I have been in connection with such work done for Mr. Carlton C. Michell. . G. A. Audsley, Letter, The English Mechanic and World of Science (10 May 1889):220.
The earliest datable instance of this activity appears to be the organ installed in St. Margaret's Church, Anfield, Liverpool, a 1870 building designed by W. & G. Audsley. . Brook & Audsley, Organ Architects (c. 1907), 1.
In the Church of St. Margaret, at Anfield, Liverpool, where the ritual choir also extends to the western arch of the central tower, the Organ stands in the north transept.
. G. A. Audsley, The Art of Organ-Building (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1905), vol. 1, 105.
The Organ was built by Messrs. W. Hill and Son, in 1873, and is considered by the builders to be one of their finest instruments. It is the largest church organ in the diocese. It possesses several exceptional features, notably the Double Open Diapason (32 feet) on the pedals, the Tuba, and very beautiful reeds. The action was originally, on the old-fashioned tracker system, with the "Barker-Pneumatic-Lever" to the great Organ, and the instrument was then blown by two hydraulic engines.
In early 1922, when at a cost of £2,500 the Organ was re-built by Messers. Rushworth & Dreaper, all this [the mechanical organ action] was done away with, and tubular pneumatic action, will all modern accessories, were installed throughout, and a 7 horse power "Discus" Electric Blower placed in a separate chamber which had been built for the purpose outside the church. . Historical Souvenir, (Liverpool: St. Margaret's Church, Anfield, 1922), 47. Courtesy of Rev. John Davies.
St. Margaret's Church, Anfield, Liverpool
Specification as rebuilt in 1922 by Rushworth & Dreaper. The extent of tonal alterations is unknown:
Great
16 m Double Open Diapason
8 m Open Diapason
8 w Stopped Diapason
8 m Gamba
8 w Hohl Flute
8 m Flute a Pavillon
4 m Harmonic Flute
4 m Principal
3 m Twelfth
2 m Fifteenth
IV m Mixture
8 m Trumpet
4 m Clarion
Couplers to Great: Swell, Choir.
Swell
16 w Bourdon
8 m Open Diapason
8 w Lieblich Diapason
8 m Keraulophon
8 m Salicional
8 m Vox Angelica
4 m Principal
2 m Fifteenth
III m Mixture
16 m Contra Trumpet
8 m Cornopean
8 m Oboe
8 m Vox Humana
4 m Clarion
Tremulant
Couplers to Swell: Octave, Sub-Octave, Unison Off.
Choir
Unenclosed:
8 w Clarabella
8 m Dulciana
8 m Gamba
Enclosed in separate box:
4 w Lieblich Flute
2 m Harmonic Piccolo
8 m Orchestral Oboe
8 m Clarionet
8 m Tuba (12 inch wind)
Couplers to Choir: Sub-Octave, Swell.
Pedal
32 w Double Open Diapason
16 w Open Diapason
16 w Bourdon
16 w Violone
8 w Violoncello
III m Mixture
8 m Trombone (8 inch wind)
Couplers to Pedal: Great, Swell, Choir, Great to Pedal Pistons.
Combination Pistons: 17 on manuals, 13 on pedals.
What remained of Audsley's work perished in a 1966 fire which destroyed the church.
A second possible instance of an architectural and musical connection was the chamber organ for the Audsley-designed Bowes residence at 5 Prince's Road, Liverpool. Though the date of this instrument is uncertain, the house was under construction in 1872. While there is no direct evidence that G. A. Audsley designed this instrument, it seems unlikely that he would be uninvolved if a new instrument was subject to the following:
I may mention that my late brother, Mr. W. J. Audsley, who may be said to be the father of this style of artistic turning in its highest decorative development, executed all his work on a very simple lathe, with the ordinary hand-rest and turning tools, and the common brace and centre-bits. Among his works are....a series of about two dozen circular plaques of elaborate patterns in contrasting woods, each containing in its centre a large precious stone---carbuncles, topazes, and amethysts, cut en cabuchon, being used---which decorated the case-work of a small chamber organ in the possession of the late James Lord Bowes of Liverpool. . G. A. Audsley, "Hints on Artistic and Decorative Turning," English Mechanic and World of Science (10 Feb. 1911):25.
Another church organ designed by Audsley was that for the "Presbyterian Church" of Selkirk, Scotland. . Brook & Audsley, Organ Architects (c. 1907), 1. The date and further details of this work are undetermined, but possible locations might include congregations at Ettrick Terrace, or at Flesh Market Street.
It appears unlikely that the few examples cited here provoked Carlton Michell's comment on Audsley's "commission...for his advice," especially when one example predates the statement by nineteen years. It may well be that there were a number of organs designed by Audsley between 1870 and 1890, including work in connection with Michell, whose identities have yet to be discovered. Despite his extensive writings, Audsley did little to document his own work, whether in music or architecture.
Beginning with the 21 January 1876 issue, The English Mechanic and World of Science published a six-part series of articles written by Audsley entitled, "Practical Hints for Amateur Organ-Builders." These articles did not deal with construction details, but rather with the general tonal scheme. Audsley felt that two manuals, pedal, and ten stops were the minimal requirements for any satisfactory instrument. He went on to recommend specific stops and couplers.
Audsley probably visited New York City in the late 1870s and made the acquaintance of organbuilder Hilborne Roosevelt, a member of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Audsley would forever hold him in the highest regard for the fine craftsmanship and materials used in Roosevelt organs, as well as, his important organ inventions. Roosevelt had reciprocal feelings and adopted an Audsley-designed alphabet for use on his firm's stopknobs and engaged Audsley to design the case for the 1883 organ for the First Congregational Church of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. This 3-60 instrument was extant in 1997 and was described in detail in a Roosevelt catalog whose cover was designed by Audsley:
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 Organ stands in the West-end gallery, opposite the pulpit over the vestibule. It dimensions are: width--30', depth--21', height--29'. . Hilborne Roosevelt Organs (1888), replicated by (Braintree, MA: Organ Literature Foundation), 98.
For a year and a half beginning in June 1886, The English Mechanic and World of Science published an important series of articles by Audsley which set forth many of the organ design principles he would espouse for the next forty years. The earliest articles were entitled, "Suggestions for the Introduction of a Systematic Organ Stop Nomenclature." The remainder dealt with what Audsley considered to be the three basic types of organs: chamber, church, and concert room.
In addition to setting forth his own views, Audsley began to attack the organ establishment. The first articles on the chamber and church organ contained such choice lines as:
If any decided progress is to be made in the art of Chamber Organ building, the initiative must come from outside the organ building trade and the prejudiced class of professional organists. . G. A. Audsley, "Notes on the Chamber Organ," The English Mechanic and World of Science (6 Aug. 1886):495.
Organ builders run in grooves. It is a matter of greater difficulty than the generality of persons have any conception of to get organ builders to depart from the lines they have been accustomed to....In the foregoing remarks, I have been alluding to the higher order of organ builders--to men who are above mere money-grubbing ideas and trade trickery, and who are working in all good faith, up to their lights. I would rather not speak of the lower class of builders who look upon organs as mere merchandise, connected with which profit is the one important consideration; and who will build a Church Organ on any lines whatever so long as they make a satisfactory sum of money out of the job. . G. A. Audsley, "Notes on the Church Organ," The English Mechanic and World of Science (3 Dec. 1886):295.
This animosity continued throughout Audsley's life. At one point, he described himself in biblical terms as being "rejected by the builders." . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 257.
Prior to January 1890, Audsley had published his first book on organs entitled, The Organ Handbook. Unfortunately, no surviving copy of this work has been located. It is imagined that the work repeated the themes of his earlier articles which appeared time and again in his subsequent writings.
J. Scott Buhrman, the editor of The American Organist and acquaintance of Audsley, mentioned Audsley's near-entry into organbuilding in the early 1890s:
I have it on his own authority that shortly after he came to America to take permanent residence here, he was actively negotiating with others for the organization of a firm of organbuilders, with western factory location, and himself at the head of the venture. . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 259.
Though not identified, the Murray Harris firm of Los Angeles, California, is a strong contender for the business in question. Credence for this might be enhanced by the selection of Audsley by the Los Angeles Organ Company, successor to Murray Harris, to provide the specification for the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition organ erected in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1904. This instrument was to be the largest ever built and naturally required a good deal of effort on Audsley's part.
In addition, Audsley had already undertaken to produce the most grandiose book on organbuilding ever printed in the English language. The strain of these two great projects and his work on Saint Edward's Church in Philadelphia is reflected in his 1902 statement:
You can understand my allusion to time when I tell you that I am working full pressure fourteen hours a day. After my professional labors are over, I have another day's work at my Organ book, now passing through the press. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Rev. H. J. Heuser, 21 Oct. 1902. Archives of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, PA.
The 1905 publication of The Art of Organ-building, following the completion of the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition organ, established Audsley's reputation as a leading authority on organ design and construction.
This position was frequently utilized in connection with Philipp Wirsching (1858-1926), a native of Germany. Following his 1886 immigration, Wirsching had two-year tenures with the Farrand and Votey firm of Detroit, Michigan, and the W. W. Kimball firm of Chicago, Illinois, prior to operating his own firm in Salem, Ohio, from 1898 to 1917. . David H. Fox, A Guide to North American Organbuilders (Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1991), 249. He was latter associated with the Hann-Wangerin-Weickhardt firm of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It appears that Wirsching either the builder or bidder for nearly every organ known to have been designed by Audsley subsequent to the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition organ. A 1908 sales pamphlet produced by the Wirsching firm is illustrated with "photographs" of exhibition and music room organs, at least two of which are of Audsley's design. . The Organ in Art (Salem, Ohio: The Wirsching Organ Co., 1908), "A group of Wirsching Exhibition and Music Room Organs, reproduced from photographs [sic]." The Organ Historical Scoiety Archives, Princeton, NJ. One of these was not a photograph as described, but rather a painting by Audsley. He described this same work years latter as a "study for a music-room and organ in the late English Gothic" rather than as an illustration of an actually built instrument. . G. A. Audsley, "The Music-Room in the Home," The American Organist (Nov. 1923) 6:11:673.
This indicates that Audsley did not merely provide specifications, but actively sought to promote Wirsching's firm.
An instance where Audsley served as both building and organ architect occurred about 1907 at the Eugene C. Clark residence at Broadway and Odell Avenue, Yonkers, New York. The Audsley firm designed the forty by twenty-five-foot Elizabethan style music room as a rather large addition to the existing house. The Wirsching organ was placed at one end of the room. The estate was eventually converted into the Hudson Valley Country Club which donated the organ pipes to a World War II scrap metal drive and painted the fine mahogany case and burnished tin display pipes a "chilly gray." . F. R. Webber. Letter to John V. V. Elsworth, 10 Dec. 1962. The Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ. The house and whatever survived of the organ were ultimately demolished.
Every manual stop is at all times equally free to both claviers, neither of which call for set names alluding to tonality. For the sake of distinction, they may be called Lower and Upper or First and Second Claviers. . G. A. Audsley, "The Small Two-Manual Organ," The Organ (1924/25) 4:144-145.
Manual Organ (CC - c4, 61 notes)
Unenclosed:
8 m Principale Maggiore
8 m Viola Pomposa
First Subdivision Enclosed in box #1:
16 w Bourdon Dolce
8 m Principale Minore
8 w Flauto Doppio
4 m Octtava
4 w Flauto Traverso
2 m Flauto Piccolo
8 m Tromba Reale
Tremolant
Second Subdivision, Enclosed in box 2:
8 tin Violoncello
8 tin Violino
8 tin Violion Celestiale
V Dolce Cornetto
16 m Contrafagotto
8 m Oboe
8 m Clarinetto
Tremolant
Pedal Organ (CCC - G, 32 notes)
16 w Principale Grande
16 m Violone
8 m Flauto Aperto (from Pedal Principale Grande)
8 w Violoncello (from Pedal Violone)
16 w Bordone Dolce (from First Subdivision)
16 m Contrafagotto (from Second Subdivision)
Couplers to Lower Clavier: Upper unison, Upper octave, Upper suboctave, octave, suboctave, unison release.
Couplers to Upper Clavier: octave, unison release.
Couplers to Pedal: Lower, Upper, octave.
Adjustable Combinations: 5 on Lower Clavier affecting all stops, 5 on Upper Clavier affecting all stops.
Tremolant I on and off; Tremolant II on and off.
Balanced Expression pedals: box 1, box 2.
Balanced Crescendo and Diminuendo pedal affecting all stops.
Lower Clavier to Pedal reversible coupler.
Upper Clavier to Pedal reversible coupler.
In 1907, the Audsley-Wirsching alliance completed a two manual instrument for a German Roman Catholic congregation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This church was located at 28th and Master streets, and apparently known as both "Saint Ludwig" and "Saint Louis." . Stephen Pinel, "Archivist's Report," The Tracker (1987) 31:1:21. . Brook & Audsley, Organ Architects (New York, NY, after 1916). The congregation has since disbanded and the organ dispersed.
The perhaps the largest example of an Audsley church organ was the Wirsching instrument for Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church of Hoboken, New Jersey, near New York City. . Allen Johnson (Ed.), Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1943), 1:422. The Audsley brothers had earlier redecorated the interior of this building with elaborate stencil designs. While Audsley would cheerfully recall this as his finest church organ, Wirsching's memories were far less happy:
Regarding the price of the Hoboken Organ....The Milwaukee firm lost $5000.00 on that deal and I did not receive one penny for all the work I did on it. Allowing a fair profit on the capital invested and the risk taken, the Hoboken organ should have cost $25,000. . Philipp Wirsching. Letter to G. A. Audsley, 15 Apr. 1921. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
The completed instrument was described at length in Shoppell's Magazine of November 1908:
The case is thirty-four feet in width and thirty-five feet in height, and is so disposed in its several divisions as to interfere as little as possible with the rose window, and that without the sacrifice of architectural effect, and also without having recourse to the intensely ugly and objectionable modern practice of introducing groups of pipes standing without any visible means of support---one of the abominations of every-day, cheap organ-building, and one that was never resorted to by the art-loving old organ-builders. The entire woodwork of the case is harmoniously painted, all architectural features and details being accentuated with contrasting colors and gold. All the display pipes, sixty-nine in number, are entirely gilded. Of these, the twenty-one in the central flat are left plain with the exceptions of their mouths, which are ornamented with patterns in black, and the same treatment obtains in the twenty-four small pipes which stand, in two tiers, at the sides of the main towers. All the remaining pipes, twenty-four in number,a re elaborately ornamented with beautiful Gothic diaper-patterns, executed in black. The contrast presented by this singularly refined pipe decoration associated with the rich polychromatic illumination of the enclosing case-work, is artistically perfect, and is an object lesson that should be studied by all those interested in organ-case designing and pipe decoration....The instrument was constructed by The Wirsching Organ Company of Salem, Ohio, and the Hann-Wangerin-Weickhardt Company of Milwaukee, Wis., associated. The entire and all-important tonal or sound-producing department being the work of the former firm, on whose tubular-pneumatic system the mechanical portion of the instrument was constructed. . Shoppell's Magazine (Nov. 1908):.
Audsley would eventually regret the involvement of the Milwaukee firm in the construction:
I sincerely wish you alone had built the Hoboken Organ, for reasons you can easily understand. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, Apr. 1921. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
Specification: . G. A. Audsley, The Organ of the Twentieth Century (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1919), 482-485.
First Clavier (CC to c4, 61 notes)
Unenclosed:
16 m Double Principal
8 m Grand Principal
8 m Major Principal
8 m Grand Viol
4 m Major Octave
Enclosed in Box #1:
8 w Major Flute
4 w Minor Flute
2-2/3 m Octave Quint
2 m Super-Octave
V m Grand Cornet: 4 Rohrflöte
2-2/3 Twelfth
2 Fifteenth
1-3/5 Seventeenth
1-1/3 Nineteenth
16 m Double Trumpet
8 m Trumpet
4 m Clarion
Couplers to First Clavier: Second Clavier Box #2 Unison, Second Clavier Box #3 Unison, Second Clavier Box #2 Octave, Third Clavier Box #2 Unison, Third Clavier Box #3 Unison, Third Clavier Box #3 Sub-octave.
Second Clavier
Enclosed in Box #2:
16 w Lieblichgedeckt
8 m Geigenprincipal
8 w Lieblichgedeckt
4 m Lieblichflöte
V m Dolce Cornet
Enclosed in Box #3:
8 m Dulciana
8 tin Viola da Gamba
8 tin Viola d'Amore
8 m Orchestral Clarinet
8 m Vox Humana
Tremolant
Couplers to Second Clavier: Third Clavier Box #2 Unison, Third Clavier Box #3 Unison.
Third Clavier
Enclosed in Box #2
8 m Dolce
8 w Flauto d'Amore
4 w Orchestral Flute
2 m Orchestral Piccolo
8 m Orchestral Oboe
Tremolant
Enclosed in Box #3
8 m Minor Principal
8 tin Violoncello
8 tin Concert Violin
8 m Corno di Bassetto
16 m Contrafagotto
Tremolant
Pedal (CCC to G, 32 notes)
32 m Double Principal
16 w Grand Principal (44 pipes)
16 w Contra-Basso (44 pipes)
16 m Dulciana (44 pipes)
16 w Bourdon
8 w Grand Octave (from Pedal Grand Principal)
8 m Dolce (from Pedal Dulciana)
8 w Violoncello (from Pedal Contra-Basso)
III m Compensating Mixture
16 m Trombone
Enclosed:
16 w Lieblichgedeckt (from Second Clavier, Box #2)
16 m Double Trumpet (from First Clavier, Box #1)
16 m Contrafagotto (from Third Clavier, Box #3)
Couplers to Pedal: First Clavier Unenclosed, First Clavier Box #1, Second Clavier Box #2, Third Clavier Box #3.
Thumb Pistons: First Clavier Box #1 on and off; Second Clavier Box #2 on and off, Second Clavier Box #3 on and off, Third Clavier Box #2 on and off, Third Clavier Box #3 on and off; Tremolant I on and off; Tremolant II on and off; Tremolent III on and off.
Adjustable Combination Pistons: 1-2-3-4-0 affecting First Clavier, Pedal, and manual to pedal coupler; 1-2-3-4-5-0 affecting Second Clavier, Pedal, and couplers; 1-2-3-4-5-0 affecting Third Clavier, Pedal, and couplers.
Balanced Expression Pedals: Box #1, Box #2, Box #3.
Balanced Crescendo Pedal bringing Full Organ onto First Clavier.
Foot Controls: All Boxes Open; All Boxes Closed; First Clavier to Pedal Coupler (double acting).
In 1909, a rather unusual Audsley-designed residence organ was completed by Wirsching. This instrument for Edgar Mills of 131 East 66th Street, New York City, was not placed in a mansion, but rather in an apartment. The building in question was completed on the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue in 1905, and featured a number of "duplex" or two-story dwelling units. The principal room of many units utilized the height of both floors, and was called a "studio" after the lofty spaces favored by artists. While the precise location of the Mills residence within the building is not known, it most likely occupied a unit with a studio. Nonetheless, it appears that this three manual instrument could not be entirely accommodated in this room. The organ was removed at some undetermined time, and references to it in Audsley's letters to Wirsching are all that remain:
The stop-knobs for the Mills organ can be made, but be sure to have the engraving done small and very neatly, for he is a very particular man in matters of type. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 16 Jul. 1908.
After so many complaints having been made by me regarding the delay of Mr. Mills' organ, it is only right that I should, in another direction, express my appreciation of the admirable manner in which Mr. Wirsching has carried out my specification, and executed the entire work of Mr. Mills' organ. I question if there is another builder in this country, or indeed any country, who could have so successfully overcome the difficulties presented by this instrument and its awkward locations. So far as I have been able to form a correct opinion, the organ is all that could reasonably be desired, and its tonality is pure and refined. Later, however, I shall be able to say more in this subject, as I have yet to hear an accomplished player on its keys. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 20 May 1909. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
Another letter of Audsley to Wirsching hints of a joint project in 1908. The location in question, possibly the name of an estate, could not be identified.
Who is to pay for the design of the Hill Stead organ case? I am fearfully busy just now, but I shall have your agreement made out forthwith. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 16 Jul. 1908. Organ Historical Society Archive, Princeton, NJ.
Audsley's organ work in America ceased with his departure to England in 1910. While there, his son Berthold Audsley entertained thoughts of returning to the United States to take up organbuilding at the Ernest M. Skinner firm:
Since I wrote you, something has displeased him anent Mr. Skinner, and he has decided not to join his staff in boston. His Brother-in Law is in a good position in Newark, N.J., and wants him to come there accordingly, he will follow his advice. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Phillip Wirsching, 18 Dec. 1913. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
G. A. Audsley was then in his mid-seventies and probably felt the need to reside with his son's family. Upon completion of his ill-fated work on English Gothic architecture, he made plans for his return to the United States. These were expressed to Wirsching in an 18 December 1913 letter:
I cannot pass over the hint contained in your letter, prompted, of course, by what I said. My idea was to start seriously as an Organ Architect and Expert Adviser, under the belief that my credentials would be sufficient, as the author of the greatest work on Organ building, as the designer of important organs, and as an experienced Church architect, conversant with all matters relating to the accommodation of the organ, and capable of designing artistic organ-cases, etc., to gain me recognition. Once recognized, I had a hope that my conscientious recommendation would bring me much work to your factory, but bear in mind, without receiving any return from you beyond the production of such work as would do credit to my recommendations. Clean hands and honorable dealings have always been my watch-words. I need not hesitate to add that the above is only an idea of which would be agreeable to me on returning to "the land of the free and the home of the brave", as you poetically put it, and that I would be open to consider any proposition that would concentrate all my services for the benefit of such a respected and able firm as yours. But you are now independent of all such outside services---you have the ball at your feet and have only to kick it to fortune. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Phillip Wirsching, 18 Dec. 1913. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
Despite this, a late 1915 letter shows a lack of commitment on Audsley's part:
I have returned to this country for good. What my remaining years will be devoted to remains uncertain... . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Rev. H. J. Heuser, 1 Nov. 1915. Archives of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
In 1917, The Saint Edward the Confessor Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was considering a new instrument. Having designed the building, Audsley was naturally keen at having a hand in the organ as well. The church was then served by a 2-27 Hook & Hastings (opus 1235, 1884) which had been brought from the earlier building and installed in a new case. Audsley encouraged Wirsching to bid on this project, but the church elected to have Hook & Hastings install their opus 2511 in 1925. . William T. Van Pelt, The Hook Opus List; 1829-1916 in Facsimile (Richmond, VA: The Organ Historical Society, 1991), 94. In his correspondence, Audsley mentioned some features of Wirsching's "Saint Paul organ" which he desired to dulpicate at Saint Edward's. This reference may have been to an earlier collaboration. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 12 Sep. 1917. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
In 1917, Audsley was called upon to serve on a committee formed by the National Association of Organists and the American Guild of Organists for the purpose of establishing design standards for organ consoles. The committee met for only a "few" sessions and issued resolutions in the summer of that year. The American Guild of Organists had done some work in this direction four years earlier. . "Uniform Console Outlined," The Diapason (Apr. 1913):1.
The selection of Audsley was no doubt based on his having published one of the few detailed studies of console arrangements in his 1905 Art of Organ-building. He also had undertaken to suggest improvements to the radiating concave pedalboard which had been pioneered by Henry Willis in his 1855 instrument for Saint George's Hall, Liverpool, England. In these alterations he "modified the radiation, scaled its concavity to fit the swing of the average leg from knee to heel, slanted the keys to exactly conform to the thrust of the foot, altered the length and slope of the black-key surfaces, changed the length of white-keys from contact to pivot..." . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 251. Buhrman described Audsley's participation:
When the American Guild of Organists made another attempt to bring uniformity out of the chaotic figures applied to console measurments, I observed Adusley for the first time at close range; we both were members of that committee. In the main, he was a silent as I; I had nothing to say but much to hope for; he had everything to say but nothing to hope for, for he was the world's greatest chronicler of the organ, its greatest authority, and what he could have contributed to console standardization would have been final---but he had nothing to hope for from the chaotic world of differences in which tradition-bound players and builders were then laboring and still labor. . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 251.
Audsley was a member of the National Association of Organists, which honored him in 1920:
The honor done me by the N. A. O., in advancing me from an ordinary member to an honorary member, sits lightly on me. It was, however, a kindly thought that prompted the action, by whom I know not, for I was not present, and meant, I suppose, as a recognition of my long endeavours to adavance the art of organ-building---alas a vain and profitless undertaking. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 16 Aug. 1920. The Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
In 1918, a series of articles on the acoustics of the tuning fork appeared in The Diapason. Contrary to the established scientific thinking of the day, Audsley believed sound to be a particulate emission rather than a wave in a medium. His published explanations of organ pipe speech are also known to be incorrect.
About 1918, Audsley established the firm of Brook & Audsley, organ architects, with organist Arthur Scot Brook. Brook was previously known to him through the Los Angeles Art Organ Company and its short-lived successors, the Art Organ Company and the Electrolian Organ Company, both of Hoboken, New Jersey. Brook had been recruited by the Los Angeles firm from Stanford University for the supervision of finishing and erection of the Audsley-designed Louisiana Purchase Exhibition organ of 1904. . Arthur Scott Brook. Letter to the editors. The Diapason (Mar. 1928):18. He latter served as the Eastern representative of the Los Angeles firm. Electrolian documents mention Brook as one of the firm's incorporators in late 1905, while a 1906 advertisement lists him as vice president and manager of the contract department. . Electrolian Organ Company Incorporation papers. E-00385 (15 Nov. 1905) New Jersey Department of State, West Trenton, NJ. . The New Music Review (Apr. 1906). Audsley's interest in the business is hinted in an advertisement of sorts for the Los Angeles firm that appeared in his The Art of Organ-building. This touted the "Orgue de Salon," a chamber organ designed by Audsley. . G. A. Audsley, The Art of Organ-Building (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1905), vol. 2, 738.
While the dating of this partnership remains uncertain, clues are to found in the short biographies of the principals in the firm's literature. The Wirsching residence organ designed by Audsley is described as being for "the late Eugene Clark," whose estate was probated in 1917. . "Eugene C. Clark Estate," The New York Times (24 Feb. 1917:8:7. Likewise, both men's participation on the Joint Committee Organ Console Appointment of the National Association of Organists and the American Guild of Organists in the summer of 1917 is mentioned. . G. A. Audsley, The Organ of the Twentieth Century (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1919), 161. The omission of any direct reference to Audsley's latter books on the organ may suggest a pre-1919 date. Though the firm gave an address of 309 West Fifty-seventh Street, Brook & Audsley did not appear in New York City directories.
The promotional pamphlet announcing the firm sets forth Audsley's ideal of the organ architect:
This firm is formed of the express purpose of placing at the disposal of the Church Authorities and others contemplating the purchase and installation of an Organ, the same professional assistance and services in connection with the scheming and construction of the Organ, as the Church Architect furnishes in the planning and construction of a church. The same complete and strictly honorable services being rigorously performed in the interest of the client. No sensible person would contemplate the erection of a church without engaging a qualified architect to design the same, specify its materials and workmanship, and superintend its construction. Yet it is considered proper to employ an organ-builder to design and construct an Organ, costing many thousands of dollars, without considering it necessary to engage a properly qualified expert---an organ architect---to advise the purchaser, scheme the Organ, specify its materials and workmanship, and superintend its construction; thereby protecting the purchaser against the use of insufficient materials, or imperfect and unsatisfactory workmanship. It must be realized that both the builder of a church and the builder of an organ are tradesmen and equally require professional supervision. The present unbusinesslike procedure on the part of Organ Committees or individuals purchasers, is obviously very unwise and short-sighted; and has resulted in widespread disappointment, as is well known....
The present Firm is prepared to undertake and honorably perform the following professional duties for the benefit of Organ Committees or individuals contemplating the purchase and installation of Organs:
1. Preliminary consultations and advice respecting the most desirable instrument for the building in which it is to be erected, position it is to occupy, and for the office it has to fulfil.
2. To make the necessary survey, and prepare plans or dimensioned drawings for the guidance of the organ builder.
3. To prepare Plans and Specifications for any alterations or additions to the building, necessary for the proper accommodation of the Organ. Such work to be correct architecturally and structurally.
4. To scheme the Organ, complete in every respect consistent with the special requirements, and the size decided upon as desirable, and report fully.
5. To prepare full and minutely-detailed Specifications for the Organ, embracing its artistic and scientific tonal structure, or stop appointment, its necessary mechanical action,---electro-pneumatic or tubular-pneumatic,---and mechanical accessories, and giving full instructions regarding all materials,---metal, wood, etc.---to be used in the construction of the pipe-work and every other portion of the instrument, and the class of workmanship required.
6. To furnish artistic design for the external case of the Organ, in strict accord with the architecture of the church or other building.
7. To superintend the construction and erection of the Organ so far as is necessary and desirable; and see the every condition set forth in the Specification and embodied in the Contract is fully complied with.
8. To carefully test the tonal quality of each speaking stop in the Organ, and its regulation throughout its compass.
9. To finally inspect and formally report on the finished instrument.
To properly undertake and perform al the important duties enumerated above, requires the Organ Architect to have an extensive acquaintance with organ music and all the requirements of the accomplished organist; to have a profound knowledge of acoustical phenomena of musical sounds; to have a through practical acquaintance with all branches of organ appointment and construction, coupled with advanced artistic ideas; and to be an experienced architect and designer in the usual sense of the terms.
All these necessary and varied accomplishments are possessed by the members of the present Firm to the fullest extent. It may be remarked that G. A. Audsley, the author, of the stand work on the art of organ-construction, is a church architect of reputation, and was the first expert, in the history of organ-building to put two swell-boxes or expressive divisions, in an Organ, and to point the way to the development of the Organ as an expressive instrument throughout all its tonal divisions, in a manner never previously contemplated.
The professional fees charged by the Firm are precisely those charged by every reputable Church Architect in practice in this country, particulars of which will be furnished on request.
The fees charged will be amply repaid by the excellence of the work secured, and the absolute protection given to the client against artistic shortcomings, and the use of inferior materials or workmanship in the construction of the Organ. Under the Firms's operations, it will be impossible for any departure from the conditions of the Specification and Contract, or for any insufficient or inferior work, to escape detection and condemnation.
No projects of this firm have been identified, and it appears that Brook & Audsley may have been a collaboration of rather short duration. One can easily imagine the difficulty of another "expert" working with Audsley. Indeed, by early 1924, Brook had published remarks concerning Audsley's design for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Organ and its last minute rescue from its "established state of mediocity." . Arthur Scott Brook, Letter to the editor of The Diapason (Feb. 1924):18. Brook subsequently served for a time as the municipal organist of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In 1919, Audsley published an abbreviated version of his 1905 work as The Organ of the Twentieth Century. The reduced format was intended to make the work more widely available in an edition which would be far less costly. This was likewise the case with the 1921 publication of Organ Stops and Their Artistic Registration, an enlarged version of a chapter in the 1905 Art of Organ-building.
In 1920, Audsley contributed the first of a seemingly endless stream of articles to The American Organist, which had been established by T. Scot Buhrman in January 1918. Audsley's labors for this publication even included the design of the cover and ornamental sectional titles. This attentiveness to detail nearly halted Audsley's writings. When the magazine revised its format in 1922 with slightly different font sizes, Audsley objected. He could not permit his articles on the writing of organ specifications to be set in type that did not meet his personal approval. The May 1922 issue did not feature the fourth installment of an article, but a rather embarrassed note by Buhrman explaining the situation to readers and stating that he could not allow others to excercise the control that properly belonged to the editor. Peace was restored by the July issue which announced:
Mr. Audsley has graciously consented to sacrifice the exacting requirements of his personal tastes in typography for the sake of the far more urgent details of the subject in hand; and the increased size of the magazine now makes them all the more welcome and desirable for the pages in which they began five months ago. . Editor's note. The American Organist (Jul. 1922):267.
Buhrman had previously treated Audsley in a rather reverential manner. The September 1919 issue contained a short biography of Audsley accompained by a handsome photographic portrait. The article concluded, "To George Ashdown Audsley belongs the sincere gratitude of the music world in general and the organ world in particular..." In an apparent attempt to placate him, Buhrman again published a laudatory article, "The Audsley Organ," in September 1922. Additionally, a photograph of Audsley in the company of M. P. Möller at the 9 November 1922 openning of the State Theatre in Jersey City, New Jersey, was published.
Buhrman came to have a friendship with Audsley and enjoyed weekly visits from him. Audsley, however, could be difficult and eventually came to have a dispute with him:
But even had matters gone smoothly and you had treated me with ordinary courtesy in a direction I had the right to be fully respected, there would have been several more articles to add to the series just ended. When the break came, all the articles, with their illustrations, which you have printed were finished, and I was just starting the continuation on the cognate subject---the production of sound in lingual organ-pipes. Those articles will now never be written by me. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to T. Scot Buhrman, 7 Jun. 1925. Music Division, the New York Public Library.
The offended Audsley thereafter sent a few articles to The Organ, a recently established British journal. At one point, Audsley, himself, edited a monthly entitled Musical Notes. The venture proved a financial failure after only two issues. . T. Scott Buhrman, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," The Temple of Tone (New York: J. Fischer & Bro., 1925), 259.
Burhman would ultimately have the final words on Audsley as he was called upon to write the eulogy which accompanied Audsley's Temple of Tone:
May my readers bear with me in a final personal word of loving tribute to a very great and good man. He was my friend. I admired his lofty idealism, his great heart. He and I were associated, almost as father and son, in many a problem that was dear to his heart. If any act of mine in the editorial capacity in which I labored with him ever caused him any moment of regrets, I hope in the truer perspective of time that comes to all men, he has found it in his heart to forgive.... . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 259.
Audsley's forgiveness was demonstrated with the bequest of all of his books and manuscripts on the organ to Buhrman. . T. Scott Burham, "George Ashdown Audsley, LL.D., An Appreciation," in G. A. Audsley, The Temple of Tone (New York: Carl Fischer, 1925), 255. There was an attempt to organize these into an "Audsley Memorial Library," but this never materialized and the books were donated to the Music Division of the New York Public Library prior to 1956. . Ray Berry, editor of the American Organist. Letter to F. R. Webber, 14 Nov. 1956. The Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
On 13 May 1922, the only known motion picture theater organ designed by Audsley made its debut at the newly built Bellevue Theatre on Bellevue Avenue, Upper Montclair, New Jersey. This cinema was located just four miles from Audsley's home in Bloomfield. As usual, he had attempted to have Wirsching obtain this commission:
The builders who sent in Specifications (miserable old-fashioned things) before the work was placed in my hands, are The Austin Co., Odell & Co., M. P. Möller, Marr & Colton, and Estey Organ Co. Although I have the specifications (so called) I do not have the estimates. I fancy it was considered desirable to let me use my own ideas uninfluenced; but I did not ask what the estimates were.
Judging from the class of work being done, and the manufacturing sort of way of doing things, which I observed when I visited the Möller factory, I should imagine that what is called for by my specification would somewhat upset the "even tenor of their ways." Such a fully detailed and "just-so" Specification will be a considerably confusing document if it comes into the hands of Funkhouser et al. I think Möller will be asked to tender.
The Odells are to be asked to compete, but I don't think they will care to undertake to work to so exacting and clear a Specification under me. They know me too well and do not love me much. In fact I have never been a favorite in the organ-building work. I know too much and cannot be bought or hoodwinked.
Now, as I have said before, I want you to build this Organ; for I know if you do it will be an artistic achievement after my own heart, and another triumph for you. If you do build it, you will take the front rank in Theatre Organ-building, and it will lead to our doing more work in combination. Now I am going to push and advertise myself as Organ-Architect.
The present Organ is only a small one and simple in construction--only two manuals and two Swell-boxes; but it is possible that others will come of the first magnitude, when you can command your own price. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 25 Mar. 1921. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ.
On 15 April 1921, Wirsching responded with an estimate of $24,150. This was well above that tendered by other firms and Audsley privately wrote to Wirsching urging him to either adjust his price or justify the additional cost. Ultimately, the contract was let to the Austin Organ Company of Harford, Connecticuit for the sum of $10,000. . David L. Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1985), I:48.
The organ was to be accommodated in two chambers, each being twenty-eight feet wide, twenty feet high, and increasing in depth from six feet-five inches at one side to twelve feet-eight inches on the other. Audsley's specification called for two manuals with chimes and xylophone. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 10 Mar. 1921. Organ Historical Society Archives, Princeton, NJ. The Austin specification for opus 1027 does not appear to follow this plan exactly:
Great
8 Open Diapason (wood bass)
8 Flauto Major ("usual scale")
8 Viola ("not too keen")
8 Melodia ("usual scale")
4 Flute ("4' Clarabella")
Chimes ("piano and forte")
("Prepare for Tuba")
Tremolo affecting Great and Choir
Swell
8 Stopped Flute ("usual")
8 Viole d'Orchestre ("#1")
8 Celeste ("#1")
4 Flauto Traverso ("usual")
8 Oboe Horne ("usual")
8 Vox Humana ("on chest with others")
("prepare for Violin Diapason")
Tremolo
Choir
8 Viola (from Great)
8 Melodia (from Great)
4 Flute (from Great)
8 Clarinet ("new small scale")
("prepare for Cor Ang.")
Pedal
16 Major Bass (12 pipe extension from Great Open Diapason)
16 Dolce Bass (12 pipe extension from Swell Stopped Flute)
The instrument was relocated to Christian Reformed Church of Whitinsville, Massachusetts, by 1943, and greatly altered in 1947.
The respite in his article writing for The American Organist led Audsley to undertake yet another book:
The hand of fate was at its work, for had I continued my work for you, as mapped out, The Temple of Tone would not have been undertaken....I hope to finish my "Swan Song", The Temple of Tone. Then my work will be done. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to T. Scot Buhrman, 7 Jun. 1925. Music Division, the New York Public Library.
Audsley would not live to fully complete this work. Enough, however, was finished at his death to permit its publication.
Audsley would design his last organ for the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Hamilton, Ohio, during the last six months of his life. . The Diapason (June 1925): 1. Wirsching, who was then connected with the Wangerin firm of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was approached in April 1925:
Tell me how things are at present, and if you are wishful to tender for the Organ for the First M. E. Church of Hamilton, Ohio. The instrument is to comprise 35 complete stops, with 7 derived in the Pedal Organ. I would dearly like you to do the work for I know it would be done in a truly artistic manner, but not if you are hampered by the trade spirit of Wangerin, who has not shown sufficient interest in organ matters as to secure a copy of the most practical work I have written on the Organ.
. G. A. Audsley. Letter to Philipp Wirsching, 13 April 1925.
In the end, Wirsching would not construct the instrument, nor Audsley supervise the work:
The organ, considered one of the most important parts of the church, was installed by the M. P. Möller Co. of Hagerstown, Md., famous builder of fine organs, at a cost of $39,000. It was designed especially for this church by George Ashdown Audsley, noted organ designer, and Frederick Mayer, a former Hamiltonian, gifted artist, and also an authority on organ design, then organist at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. The organ was unique in many ways --- with a total of 2,962 pipes, three manuals, the usual pedal keys and five distinct subdivisions, 64 complete stops, which included 17 of organ tone, 13 flute tone, 19 viola tone, 8 reed tone and 8 bass tone. Thus it had every necessary voice to accompany the choir and congregation for all moods and occasions. The massive console, located directly back of the pulpit, and the case in front of the organ were built by Irving and Casson Co. of New York City. The ornamental pipes were arranged in artistic groups at the back of the choir seating in the Chancel. The console of the organ was rebuilt in 1949 at a cost of $5,324. . Percy Ray Stout and Paul F. Erwin, The First Hundred and Fifty Years, The First United Methodist Church, Hamilton, Ohio 1819-1969 (Hamilton, OH, The First United Methodist Church, 1969), 85. Courtesy of Janet Peters.
A Cassavant organ was installed in the church in 1969.
In an amazing display of hopefulness in the face of seriously declining heath, Audsley sought a major project just two months prior to his demise on 21 June 1925:
There is a matter that has just to-day come to my notice which is somewhat in the direction of my studies re the Gregorian Organ; and it has occurred to me that you may in some direction help me in the matter. I have been informed that a large Organ, of about 100 stops, is in contemplation for St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York; and that the person in command of the project is Mr. J. C. Ungerer, of the Cathedral. Nothing has been done in any active manner up to the present, and the coast is clear. This opens up a grand and possible opportunity for me to put a Grand Organ, of a true Catholic Church character, and embodying the Gregorian type in the most important Catholic Church in the country. All that is immediately required is someone of influence in the Catholic and musical world in New York to bring my claims for consideration before Mr. Ungerer. Can any of your friends do this? ....I could put an Organ in St. Patrick's such as no Catholic church in the world contains at the present time. Is this golden opportunity to be lost? It very probably will. . G. A. Audsley. Letter to Rev. Gregory Hügle, 1 Apr. 1925. Archives of Conception Abbey, Conception, MO.
[ main ]