Organs at HPPC
Sanctuary Organ
Sacntuary Organ Specifications
For twenty-five years the majestic sounds of Highland Park's Casavant Organ have led the song of the faithful Sunday after Sunday.
Eighty ranks of pipes occupy space at the front of the Chancel and fifteen ranks are placed on either side of the Resurrection Window in the rear Gallery. The Gallery Organ greatly enhances congregational singing and provides the opportunity for occasional organ duets.
The main console of the instrument is placed toward the rear of the Chancel and has four manuals, a pedal board and over 100 stops controlling both Chancel and Gallery instruments. For organ concerts, the Chancel console is brought forward and turned so that the artist may be observed "in action." The Gallery Organ has its own small console which is moveable. When in use it is played at the side of the balcony seating area and stored outside the balcony double doors when not in use.
The furniture division of Casavant provided the beautiful oak casework which surrounds the pipes at the front of the church matching our existing woodwork. A striking feature of the organ is the horizontal Trompette en chamade located in the center of the facade.
The organ was formally dedicated in concert by project consultant Dr. Frederick Swann of the Riverside Church, New York City in May 1983.
Wynne Chapel Organ
Wynne Chapel is much beloved by the Highland Park Presbyterian Church family.
Two concerns made our search for an organ builder a cautious one. First, the specialized musical requirements for the Chapel services called for an instrument with a wide ranging palette of tonal colors and at the same time, capable of sublime subtleties. Put plainly, loudness or harshness could not be tolerated in this intimate setting. Second, the organ case and display pipes had to fit naturally into the refined elegance of the Chapel fabric.
Schoenstein's President and Tonal Director, Jack Bethards, visited the Chapel, made acoustical tests, and developed a tonal design which is at once anchored in tradition and daringly innovative. The overriding objective was expressiveness in tone color, in dynamics, and in providing the organist with total command over his musical resources. The feature which most departs from present-day organ building practive is the wide dynamic range from a whisper of tone almost inaudible to the thrilling crescendo of full organ. The objective was to traverse this entire range with absolute smoothness. This organ has four expression boxes (most organs of this size have only one or two). Furthermore, the expression box containing the most powerful stop in the organ (Tuba) is located inside the Celestial swell box, affording a crescendo effect heretofore unachievable. By the same means, the Vox Humana which shares the Solo box can be made mysteriously distant. Another important expressive device is the inclusion of several voices of extremely soft tonality. Two of these, the Celestiana and the Voix Serenissime were developed by Schenstein & Co., the latter appearing for the first time on the Wynne Chapel organ. Various mechanical accesories including sixteen seperate crescendo settings and a swell shoe selector give the organist ease of control over these resources, but an even more valuable feature for playing flexibility is the wide selection of voices available on the center manual (Great). Through the device of duplexing, important accompaniment and solo voices from all the enclosed divisions of the organ complement the unenclosed voices of the Great. The "upperwork" for the Great is provided by these neighboring enclosed divisions, thus giving double dynamic control and allowing subtle balancing to provide brillance without stridency. The two enclosed West End divisions (Choir and Swell) can stand separately or be combined to form one division comparable to the Swell of a large English Romantic organ. The Swell emphasizes chorus reed tone and the Choir emphasizes chorus flue tone.
The Celestial division (which incorporates the Solo) is located in the chamber to the right of the chancel once occupied by the origional Chapel organ. This division incorporates the more powerful and softest voices of the organ and has three musical functions. First, it serves as an echo or antiphonal for the main organ. Second, it provides solo voices as a foil to the sccompaniemental voices in the West End. Third, it serves as an accompaniment organ for choir, soloists, or instrumentalists performing in the chancel.
As is the tradition in America, this intrument draws freely on English and European organ building traditions which have been studied carefully by Schoenstein. For example, voices in the French tradition include the Harmonic Flutes, Cor de Nuit, Gamba and the French Oboe. Voices of English origin include Diapason, Gemshorn, English Obe, Trumpet, and Tuba.
On this organ, there are several special tonal qualities not found on typical church organs. Of special importance for Wynne Chapel was the ability to produce ethereal effects. Five undulating "celeste" stops (10 ranks) as well as a variety of delicate flute tones contribute to this quality. (There are six different flutes ar 8' and 4' pitches.) A rather unusual feature of the Swell is the inclusion of two 2-2/3' tones- one of principal quality, and one of flute quality. The 1-3/5' tone which complements these is of such light character that it can blend with either. Although not immediately obvious from the written specifications, this instrument has an abundance of 8' Principal tone. The Choir Diapason is a small scale, slotted Principal; the Swell Gamba is large, similar to a Montre on a small French organ; and the Salicional is quite reminiscent of a Geigen Principal.
Dedication events for the new Chapel organ included recitals by Thomas Murray and Davis Wortman, a performance of Marurice Duruflé's Requiem, and a commissioned hymn by Jane Marshall.
The Schoenstein Organ is a memorial gift from the estate of Murray S. Johnson.
