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In
this photo of the left side of the chamber, four stops on the organ are
represented, but only three actual ranks of pipes (and partial ranks at
that). From left to right, the first rack of pipes is labeled "Octave",
however there is no true Octave rank. This is actually part of the
Diapason rank. Organ builders will "borrow" pipes from one rank or
ranks to represent another stop which does not have pipes of its own.
This is a common practice for allows them to create an
instrument
which looks bigger than it really is. While the sound of the borrowed
rank may not be exactly like what it is intended to be, it
usually is
close enough.
The second pipe rack has pipes from the Harmonic Flute rank, and the
Nazard rank (the six smallest pipes). The third pipe rack houses more
Nazard pipes.
The pipes on the wall are marked "Super Octave" which, like the Octave
pipes, is actually from the Diapason rank. The right side of
the
chamber has an almost mirror image of these pipes, minus the Super
Octave pipes.
Judging by the mix of older looking and newer looking pipes, some of
the original Kilgen pipes apparently were in poor shape and were
replaced when the organ was rebuilt. |
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Here's
a better view of the Super Octave pipes, which again are
actually
part of the Diapason rank. These are the smallest pipes in the organ,
and will make your dog's ears perk up when played! They are also often
hard to keep in tune. These appear to be the original Kilgen pipes and
pipe racks. |
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Moving
closer to the front of the chamber we see five additional racks of
pipes. Ranks from left to right are Tierce, Voix Celeste, Salicional,
Trumpet, and Gedeckt. The large pipes on the right are of the Diapason
rank. It appears that most, if not all of these pipes are original to
the organ. |
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Both
of these photos are rather large but it is worth the wait to see the
detail in each.
One thing I like to highlight when possible are the markings found on
some pipes. Each builder seems to do things slightly different. Often
the pitch of the pipe will be stamped on the pipe, as well as the rank
name. On the left you will see "CEL" stamped on the Voix Celeste pipes,
and "SAL" stamped on the Salicional pipes. I believe one of the Trumpet
pipes is marked "COR" for coronet. Also note on the pipe rack itself
writing indicating the rank and the opus number of the organ (3721).
This may or may not have been written by Kilgen.
On the right is a close up of the smallest pipes in the Tierce rank.
The label on the left was added by Peebles Herzog when they rebuilt the
organ in 2001, but the pipe just to the right has "Tierce" hand-written
on the pipe, as well as its pitch of G. This is repeated on all of the
pipes in this rank. This likely was done by Kilgen but it cannot be
confirmed.
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The
focus of this photo are the large pipes being framed by others already
described. These are the largest pipes of the Diapason rank. The
mitering pattern of these pipes matches that of the Bourdon pipes on
the other side of the room. However it is plain to see that these pipes
could fit in this room without mitering. It is believed that this organ
used to be in the Holy Angels Chapel on the 3rd floor of St. Charles,
and likely they needed mitering in order to fit in those chamber
spaces. The pipes were never altered when moved here.
Also note the outline of the opening in the back wall, and the swell
shades. |
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Here's
another view of the largest pipes of the Diapason rank. Ideally these
should be pointing towards the church, but due to space
limitation they speak back into the pipe chamber. |
