Dayton, OH
3/35 Felgemaker
Opus 476 - 1887/2015
The three manual, 35 rank Felgemaker pipe organ inside Emmanuel Catholic Church in Dayton, OH combines the old with the new to produce a beautiful sound for leading the congregation in song. It has had a number of changes along the way with the most recent changes restoring much of what was lost over the years. Follow along as we trace its varied history.
Parish and Church History
Emmanuel Catholic Church was the first Catholic parish in Dayton established in 1837. The current church building, one of the largest in southwest Ohio, was completed in 1873. The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The parish lays claim to having Joseph Fischer as its organist in the early 1860s. Joseph Fischer and his brother Ignaz started the music publishing company J. Fischer and Bro. in 1864 which published many music transcriptions for Catholic ceremonies. Its Catholicism reflects the company's origins, however J. Fischer and Bro. branched out to music of other denominations, secular, classical, school music and other genres.
Joseph Fischer took the organist's position at Manhattan's Church of the Holy Redeemer in 1871. The company later moved to New York City in 1875 and was acquired by Belwin-Mills in 1970. Alfred Music now owns the publishing rights of Belwin-Mills.
Organs at Emmanuel Catholic Church
Specifications of previous organs have not been found. An organ of unknown specification did exist in the previous 1837 church building. It was installed in 1850 and moved to another church when the original church building was replaced. A harmonium, a type of single manual (keyboard) reed organ, may have also been used, but no records exist to confirm this.
| Completed
in 1887, the pipe organ
company A.B. Felgemaker of Erie, Pennsylvania installed a
large
pipe organ in the young church building. It was thought to be one of
the
largest pipe organs in the area at the time, and one of the largest
instruments ever built by Felgemaker. The original instrument consisted
of three manuals (keyboards), 62 stops, 43 ranks and 2563 pipes.
Conflicting historical accounts cite the organ's cost at either $8,000
or $10,000. The organ was dedicated on October 6, 1887. The organ's debut made quite an impression in the local community, and was covered by the local newspapers which was commonly done during this time. (articles provided by Gary Geisel, Director of Music, Emmanuel Catholic Church) : 1. Dedicating the Great Organ - Dayton Journal - October 7, 1887 2. The New Organ - Dayton Daily Democrat - October 7, 1887 3. Orgel-Einweihung und Kirchen-Concert in der Emanuels Kirche (Organ dedication and Church concert in Emanuel Church) - Daytoner Volks-Zeitung - October 7, 1887 Though it was once believed the organ was shipped via canal barge from the factory to the church, a more plausible scenario is for the organ to have moved via the railroads between the two locations. Water, however, did play an important part in this instrument as it provided the "power" to pump the organ bellows, providing a steady stream of wind for the organ (see sidebar). The organ's "action" was tubular pneumatic, a common form of action in the days before electrical action, and an alternative to the more widely used tracker action which used a series of rods and levers to control keys and stops. |
In
another illustration of the importance of water during this time
period, the
organ's bellows were originally pumped with water power. Pressurized
water was fed from the Dayton city water supply to a water engine which
moved a drive rod up and down to pump the bellows to provide wind for
the organ. Click on the image at the bottom to see an illustration of
how this system worked. A hand lever may have also been available as a back up to manually pump the bellows. This organ was built at a time that predated the wide spread use of electrical power, therefore the use of water power to pump organ bellows was not all that uncommon at the time.  |
Felgemaker, plus many others
Over
the years many hands have touched the work of the Felgemaker organ.
Felgemaker
went out of business in 1918 and was taken over by the Tellers-Kent
Organ Company. The same year, the
Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, OH was
contracted to electrify the organ and install a new detached console.
Schantz may have also made some adjustments to the organ's
specifications but no records exist to confirm this.
In 1965 the A.W. Brandt and Company organ company of Columbus, Ohio
replaced the Schantz
console with a rebuilt Estey Organ Company console. With funds short at
the time, some ranks of pipes which had begun to fail were
removed. In 1991 the organ would once again receive attention. Peebles-Herzog Organ Company (the successor to A.W. Brandt & Company) made several changes to the organ's specification, most notably removing the remaining pipework in the Choir Division. Consequently the number of functioning manuals was reduced from three to two. Some ranks made up of brand new pipes were also added to bring additional colors to the organ's sound. The end result was smaller instrument with a French-inspired design and sound.
The organ's most recent rebuild took place in 2015 when the 1965 console was replaced with a rebuilt 1929 console from the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, CT. In addition, 16 digital ranks, most residing in a new Choir Division, were also added to bring the organ back to something similar to its original specification. All existing physical pipes were removed, cleaned, revoiced, reinstalled and retuned.
As a result of the many rebuilds of the instrument, almost all of the original Felgemaker wind chests and other related air equipment have been replaced. Of the remaining 1,844 physical pipes, 873 are confirmed to be from the original 1887 instrument. The balance of the pipework comes from organ supply house company A.O. Schopps, the Estey Organ Company and other unknown sources (some of the unknown pipework is Felgemaker but exactly how much has not been confirmed).
In spite of the multiple sources for the pipework (including 16 digital voices) the organ offers a solid, unified tonal sound very much in line with the Romantic German sound likely present in the original Felgemaker instrument.
Sound Clips
Here are a few clips (MP3 files) of the organ for your listening pleasure. The church is 69 feet from floor to ceiling resulting in a 4 1/2 second reverberation. The sound samples do not completely illustrate this (you'll just have to visit the church in person), however they give some idea of how things sound in the space. Samples of each were taken from the floor and the loft to illustrate subtle differences in the sound. The clips from the loft are much clearer in tone while from the floor everything has a softer, resonant sound. .
