1892 Woodbury & Harris Organ - St. Mary's Church

1892 Woodbury & Harris Organ - St. Mary's Church - Charlestown, Massachusetts

Рет қаралды 10,700

11 ай бұрын

Brent Johnson, Peter Sykes, and Lee Eisman explore the 1892 organ of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts. This is noted to be the oldest unaltered 3-manual organ in America.
Specification of the Organ: pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/4883
St. Mary's in Charlestown: stmarystcatherine.org/
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Пікірлер: 39

@jrorganbuilding 11 ай бұрын

For me, this type of instrument along with Hook and Hastings, Johnson, Roosevelt, etc. Represent the pinnacle of American Organ building. This type of tonal palette is second to none.

@brnmcc01 11 ай бұрын

I agree, there are some Hook and Hastings instruments that give me goosebumps when hearing them :)

@natecamilleri3937 10 ай бұрын

Hinners too!

@chuckt8457 11 күн бұрын

This is how an organ should sound.

@jimroan9185 10 ай бұрын

I was fortunate to be the organist here in the 1970s. I loved playing there. The church is also magnificent. You can find a few pieces on KZfaq played by Rosiland Mohnsen in concert.

@williamsimonds5429 11 ай бұрын

What a gorgeous organ. So surprising for that vintage. Bright and some chiff. You need to keep Peter Sykes on hand for every organ you demonstrate. He is the best you have for that purpose.

@andre26071955 11 ай бұрын

This instrument deserves it to be preserved for future generations.

@citylimits8927 11 ай бұрын

The large Johnson 3-manual organ at Cass Community United Methodist Church in Detroit was also built in 1892 and it too is unaltered. Like this beautiful Woodberry & Harris organ, it too has a gorgeous sound and local pipe organ enthusiasts have been trying to save it. Thanks for this video, Peter, Brent, and Lee!

@paulh5293 11 ай бұрын

A fabulous sound. What a diapason that is on the Great! Beautiful, rich singing stop. And that Pedal Dulciana is gorgeous. Beautiful craftsmanship throughout the organ too. I've never understood the Victorian thing about putting an unenclosed clarinet anywhere but that apart, a fine selection of stops brilliantly demonstrated by Peter Sykes. As always, thanks Brent and team for posting.

@TheProsaicCult 11 ай бұрын

this organ has a perfect stop list. a really great instrument.

@MrLESiPhone 11 ай бұрын

Peter Sykes does a terrific job of demonstrating this instrument. This is the first Woodbury & Harris Organ that I have ever heard. It has a beautiful sound.

@RichardJClark 11 ай бұрын

Fantastic! Gorgeous organ. Gorgeous phrasing from Maestro Sykes.

@alanrogers5106 11 ай бұрын

When the video started, I thought the church looked like a Patrick Keeley creation. Wikipedia says I was right. I LOVE his architecture.

@SpitzPrincipal4 11 ай бұрын

= ENJOYED This one! A lot of the stops on there have a beautiful French- flavor- much like a Cavaille-Coll.

@HobbyOrganist 11 ай бұрын

Wow what a complex action! Amazing the console hadn't been replaced or messed with to "modernize" it and add MIDI garbage to it!

@InventorZahran Ай бұрын

MIDI can be useful and convenient, but forcibly integrating it into a historic console is inappropriate and dishonors the legacy of the instrument.

@whs1325 11 ай бұрын

What a fabulous instrument! I heard Dana Robinson play a jaw-dropping rendition of Widor's Symphonie Gothique on this organ at the 2000 OHS convention. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about it all these years later.

@Tracygriffith-dz2ys 11 ай бұрын

Very nice organ and nice sound

@SeattleBoatdog 11 ай бұрын

What a gorgeous instrument!!

@billraty14 10 ай бұрын

The plenum heard in the Gade piece (at 33:25) is glorious! The mixtures are bright but not shrill, and the foundations seem to have string overtones with Goldilocks balance (not too loud, not too soft, just right). The Pedal Trombone is jolly, smooth and resonant, and it doesn't take much imagination to hear an orchestral trombone playing because of the wooden boots.

@cateclism316 11 ай бұрын

The 2' stops and mixtures make this instrument shine. The principals are gorgeous as well. Should I go on?

@fortepiano_enthusiast-f8t 11 ай бұрын

sounds fantastic, greetings from Vienna

@2008truckman 11 ай бұрын

This has to be one of the best organs that you have recorded since that Kimball in Ohio.

@malourogers 11 ай бұрын

What beautiful sweet flues❤️

@patmeaden 11 ай бұрын

Great video! I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to practice on this instrument when I’m in town for school

@BostonCathedralMusic 10 ай бұрын

This is incredible and fascinating!

@louisglen1653 11 ай бұрын

Very nice organ!

@biopoweruk 11 ай бұрын

What a beautiful organ! I also really liked your depricating expression 'mush mouthed'!

@ericalbany 11 ай бұрын

This might be the perfect late 189th c organ

@Velostigmat 11 ай бұрын

Wow. This is a pilgrimage organ, and now I see what the action complaints were about.

@miltronix 11 ай бұрын

I *should* know, but don'r. What is the piece that Mr. Sykes plays at the end? Thanks.

@samschaeffer8236 11 ай бұрын

I wonder if the Harris is Murray Harris, the California organ builder.

@rbaltimo 11 ай бұрын

Pure unadulterated beauty of sound

@Yaledmot 11 ай бұрын

Curious - is the "Harris" Murray M. Harris before he left for California?

@Velostigmat 11 ай бұрын

No, Charles T. Harris. He voiced flue pipes at Hutchings and worked for Johnson. He was in Woodberry & Harris 1888-1894 but also had associations with James Treat and E. W. Lane. Murray M. Harris apprenticed with Hutchings 1889-1894, so he might have known Charles Harris, but your guess is as good as mine.

@bernardchauvette-oq8rq 2 ай бұрын

is it tuned to 423hz ?

@williamsimonds5429 11 ай бұрын

NO CELESTE - Oh No

@brnmcc01 11 ай бұрын

Yeah I think this organ could have used a couple more strings or at least a string celeste, but there was probably limited space/time/money available in 1892, so they did a pretty good job of what they had to work with. On the other hand it's voiced very well, everything blends together well, nothing is overpowering like a shrieking Tierce or mixture. The mixtures add just the right touch of brightness and fill in the harmonic series without overpowering the principles/fundamental notes.

@Velostigmat 11 ай бұрын

Celestes were still kind of a new taste in the 1890s. Boston organbuilding was quite Ango-Germanic at the time, and neither of the grand Hook/Hook & Hastings organs at Immaculate Conception Church and Holy Cross Cathedral had an undulant. Immaculate Conception had one added in 1902. The 1897 Hutchings at the Mission Church has one celeste.