Review from The Diapason,
December 2005
James B. Hartman
The University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Pipe Organs of Chicago, by
Stephen J. Schnurr, Jr. and Dennis E. Northway. Oak
Park, IL: Chauncey
Park Press, 2005. xii + 274 pages. 465 color illus. ISBN:0966780833
Chicago is known
as the “Windy City”
for two reasons: first, its notorious climate that merits this description;
second, the number and variety of its organs (its “windy” instruments). The
rich history of pipe organs in Chicago
began in 1837 when Henry Erben of New York
installed in St. James Episcopal Church an instrument built in Germany.
This book presents an opportunity for readers to acquire a pictorial
acquaintance with more than a hundred of the city’s instruments. The choice of
instruments reflects a variety of criteria: some are examples of the earliest
or most recent example of a particular builder’s work; some are included simply
in virtue of their large size; some represent the rich tradition of organbuilding
in Chicago; others are simply
unique.
The story unfolds in eight major sections, each presenting
basic information on particular organ installations: Made in Chicago (10
organs); A Phoenix: Chicago Rebuilds Anew (13 organs); Country Charm Within the
Shadow of Chicago (9 organs); The Decades of Opulence (24 organs); Learning
from the Past: The American Classic and the Neo-Baroque Movements (27 organs);
Organ Transplants (4 organs); Simply Unique (3 organs); Promise to the Future:
A Sampler of the Region’s Most Recent Installations (11 organs); these total
102 instruments.
The predominant aspect is the profusion of color photographs
of the organs:over 730 altogether, including 8 full
page photographs, within the book’s 9 x 11" layout. These photographs are
of church interiors showing pipe façades, windchests, internal mechanical
devices, consoles, keydesks, stop jambs, nameplates, and other structural
details. In addition to the photographs, a typical entry provides notes on the
history of the church, an identification of the organ and its builder, and a
specification list of the stops on each manual. The organs range from an organ
built in Germany
in 1698 and imported into the United States
in the nineteenth century, to those built in Chicago
and elsewhere in the United States,
along with others from Canada,
England, and Holland.
In addition to an Alphabetical Index of 110 buildings, there
is a Builder Index that lists the names and organ installations of 46 companies
that worked in Chicago. A Geographical
Index cross-references organ installations by date and maker in 29 cities in Illinois
(56 installations in Chicago) and Indiana.
An Index of Organs with Organ Historical Society Historic Organ Citations (21)
concludes the book. There is a Bibliography of 45 titles, some dealing with
local history, others broader in scope. This faultless and aesthetically
elegant book is clearly the product of enormous effort, particularly the
photographs (mostly the work of Stephen Schnurr), the compilation of stoplists,
and related technical information. It will be a valuable historical and contemporary resource for organists and
lovers of the pipe organ in Chicago,
as well as for those who visit there.
Review from The American
Musical Instrument Newsletter, Spring 2007
James B. Kopp
Pipe Organs of Chicago, by
Stephen J. Schnurr, Jr. and Dennis E. Northway. Oak
Park, IL: Chauncey
Park Press, 2005. xii + 274 pages. 465 color illus. ISBN:0966780833
“Today,
almost every important German city has a published organ atlas,” Stephen L.
Pinel writes in his foreword to this lavish photo album. “Why
not here?” The literal question goes unanswered, but this volume answers
the rhetorical question with handsome color photographs, stop lists, and brief
historical sketches documenting approximately 100 organs present in buildings
in and around Chicago at the time
of writing. (A volume continuing the coverage will “perhaps” appear in the
future.)
The
first documented organ in Chicago,
installed in Saint James Episcopal Church in 1837, is gone, as is the original
building. A second building on this site burned in the Great Fire of 1871,
bringing about the demise of a second organ. A similar fate met many other
buildings and organs in the city, and in fact almost no pre-fire organs are
listed here. The one exception is a transplant, an instrument built in 1698 by
Johann Christoph Hartman (or Harttmann) of Württemberg,
Germany. (This is said to
be the maker’s only surviving organ.) The three-rank organ was brought to the United
State in 1817 (its case appears to
date from around this time) and donated to the Church of the Brethren
headquarters in 1957.
The
book’s initial chapter focuses on Chicago
makers, including Lyon & Healy, W.W. Kimball, Berghaus, and Bradford.
Subsequent chapters proceed in chronological order of each organ’s
installation, embracing seven nineteenth-century instruments and dozens more
from the earlier twentieth century, including numerous examples by Austin,
Casavant Frères, and Skinner. Other examples, mostly from churches and
synagogues, were installed as recently as 2005. In one unique example, the
Schlicker-Berghaus organ at the Church of the Ascension, a remote conductor’s
podium includes a short keyboard of twenty-five notes and four stops, using which
a conductor can give pitches to singers.
Several
secular organs are documented, including an eighty-rank Wurlitzer, opus 1571,
built for the Riviera Theater of Omaha. Described as currently the largest
theater organ in the world, this extravagant instrument is now installed in a private residence in Barrington Hills,
IL. The book includes a bibliography and
indexes of makers, buildings, and cities.
Review from The American Organist, November
2005
James L. Wallmann
Pipe Organs of Chicago, by Stephen J. Schnurr, Jr. and Dennis E. Northway. Oak
Park, IL:
Chauncey
Park
Press, 2005. xii + 274 pages. 465 color illus.
ISBN:0966780833
Pipe Organs of
Chicago is a wonderful book and delivers exactly what the title
promises. It is not written as a
history of organs in Chicago,
although a great deal of historical information is found in its pages. The book is a snapshot taken in 2005
(more or less) of significant instruments in and around Chicago. The modifier “more or less” is necessary
because one instrument, that of Medinah
Temple (1915 Austin Organ Co.),
is presently in storage. Other
organs included are in poor condition but have historical significance,
while the Skinner Opus 634 in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University
of Chicago, for example, has
been altered over the years, but the authors record the original 1928
specification. In other words, a
literal snapshot of the contemporary organ scene in greater Chicago
has been gently nudged in the direction of something a little more
meaningful to the reader.
Not all instruments in Chicago
could be included in a book such as this.
Thus, the authors designate this as “Volume 1” and hold out the hope
that more organs could find their way into a second volume. Instruments were selected for this book
because they are “worthy,” a term not defined by understood by this
reviewer as being organs of any style with integrity, which is not to say
that an organ has to be unaltered to be included. “Regrettably, some organs originally
considered for this volume were removed from the list. . . because the
instrument was unsympathetically altered in a manner which seriously
hindered the organ’s worthiness” (p. x.).
The 102 organs featured are in 95 locations—mostly
churches, but there are some chapels, temples, seminaries, and even one
high school and a private residence.
The instruments are grouped in eight chapters titled “Made in
Chicago,” “A Phoenix: Chicago
Rebuilds Anew,” “Country Charm within the Shadow of Chicago,” “The Decades
of Opulence,” “Learning from the Past:
The American Classic and the Neo-Baroque Movements,” “Organ
Transplants,” “Simply Unique,” and “Promise to the Future: A Sampler of the Region’s Most Recent
Installations.” One of the unique
organs is also the oldest: the
three-stop instrument from 1698 by Johann Christoph Harttman in the Church
of the Brethren General Board Offices in Elgin. Otherwise, the earliest organs are from
the last three decades of the 19th century. Except for a gap in the years around
World War II, the instruments featured in the book are fairly evenly
distributed across the decades from the late 19th century to the
present day.
The major trends in American organbuilding are reflected
in the organs of Chicago. Naturally, local builders such as Lyon
& Healy, W. W. Kimball, and the Berghaus Organ Company are prominently
featured. There are instruments from
just about all of the important North American builders, including Hook
& Hastings, Hutchings, Möller, Austin, Casavant, and Schlicker. Many fine Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner
organs are found in and around Chicago. The chapter, “Chicago Rebuilds Anew,”
features historically significant instruments from 1870 to 1909 in Chicago. Similar treasures are found outside the
city in the “Country Charm” chapter.
Mechanical-action organs by Noack, Phelps, Wilhelm, Wolff, Dobson,
Pasi, Bigelow, and Fisk, among others represent some of the notable
instruments built in the last 30 years, but there are also recent organs
with non-mechanical actions by Buzard, Schantz, and Reuter featured here.
Pipe Organs of
Chicago is a large (over eleven inches tall), beautifully produced
book. The color photographs
throughout are particularly attractive.
Each organ receives at least two pages describing it and the building
in which it is found. Naturally,
complete specifications are given.
Indexes allow the reader to locate instruments by church name,
builder, or by geographic location.
Organists in the Chicago
area will naturally be attracted to the book, but Pipe Organs of Chicago is highly recommended for anyone with an
interest in the American organ.
Praise for Pipe Organs of Chicago Volume I
“10+ Wow, what an undertaking!”
- Allen Kinzey
“Your Pipe Organs of Chicago has been received and marveled
at. It is an excellent document
presented in an informative and classy way!
I can’t even imagine the enormous amount of time, energy and effort it
required, but I’m sure it will bring much pleasure as well as enlightenment to
all who procure it. I wish you all
possible success with this handsome book.
Sincerely, “
- Fred Swann
“Congratulations on an elegant production!”
- Michael Barone
“I got my copy of Pipe Organs of Chicago this weekend. WOW! WOW! WOW! It’s very exciting and I can’t
wait to get some time to devour it.”
- Eric Budzynski, MMus, CAGO, Church
of St. Paul and the Redeemer,
Episcopal
“Congratulations on a beautiful book.”
Jerome Butera, Editor, THE DIAPASON
“this is a superbly color illustrated volume which picks
about 95 of the significant EXISTING instrument of the greater Chicago area and
gives each a quick review. . . The historical research appears top notch. . .
This volume should be on the shelves of anyone interested in organ history,
especially in the Americas
as the Chicago organ scene was so
heavilly influenced by what happened there.”
- George Nelson [posting on Piporg-L and Pipe digest]
“It’s gorgeous. Congratulations.”
- Allison Alcorn-Oppedahl, Ph. D.
“First let me congratulate you on your magnificent new
book!! Let me assure you that the many,
many hours you must have spent on it are very much appreciated! Congrats!”
- Nicholas Thompson-Allen
“ I won’t embarrass you with all
the superlatives your book deserves. It’s fabulous.”
- George Horwath
“This truly is a very wonderful book with almost too much
information. I think that the artwork
and presentation method is superb! This
is going to be a wonderful addition to the history of organs in the metropolitan
area.
Thanks to you and Dennis for a marvelous book.
I think that this is the first time that such a great book
on organs has been written about the organs in one area. This certainly will set an example for other
metropolitan areas!”
- Robert E. Woodworth, Jr.
“As we say in academia, WOOOO-HOOOO!!! I made my first read through your fabulous
book, congratulations to both of you.
What a lot of work and what a beautiful and informative outcome. I plan to spend lots of time dipping into it
in the future. . . . On behalf of the entire music community,
thank you for the service that you have rendered all of us with this book.’
- Kurt R. Hansen
“It looks very well, and is one hell of a compilation.”
- Jonathan Ambrosino
“I have read the book - it is WONDERFUL! I guess I wished there were more instruments
in it but you guys have covered the main ones.
And for me, a native Chicagoan who has been away for many years, it brought
back memories of various instruments I had an acquaintance with.”
- David Scribner
“What an achievement!”
- Joyce Robinson, Associate Editor, THE DIAPASON
“Congratulation on the publishing of your
great organ book. It is
excellent.”
- Karl Bruhn, Dean, Fox
Valley Chapter, AGO
“It looks quite appealing.”
- William T. VanPelt
