Organ

Church's Pipe Organ Taking a Rest

by Dan McWilliams, East Tennessee Catholic, July 23, 2006

Even pipe organs need a little vacation now and then.

            That’s the case with the venerable instrument at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Chattanooga, which after decades of faithful service is undergoing a major restoration at a Bradley County firm.

            Russell Goode, the parish’s principal organist since about 1960, may be looking forward to the pipe organ’s return more than anyone.

            “I’m very pleased and anxiously waiting for it to be put back,” he said. “The church looks so funny with it out.”

            Many of the wood and metal pipes in the current organ were installed with the original Barckhoff instrument when the downtown church was completed in 1890, while the keyboard and most of the remaining pipes are vintage 1936. In that year the Kilgen company of St. Louis replaced the original mechanical organ with an electro-pneumatic one, all at a cost of $4,000, according to an account published for the parish centennial in 1952.

            The current project will cost $285,400, with money coming from the parish’s ongoing organ restoration and repair fund, which was boosted by a “sizable donation” from the daughter of a former parishioner, said Sts. Peter and Paul pastor Father George Schmidt.

            “She wanted to do something for the parish in memory of her mom and asked if we had a project. I said we were doing a major restoration of the pipe organ, and she gave us a very nice donation in memory of her mom.”

            On Easter Monday, staff from Barger and Nix Organs disassembled the Sts. Peter and Paul organ and hauled the works to the company shop in McDonald.

            “One of the interesting things we discovered when they were taking the pipes out this time is that approximately 50 percent of the pipes in the 1936 organ were from the original organ of 1890, and those pipes are being used in the major restoration of the organ in 2006,” said Father Schmidt. “Thirty percent were pipes added in 1936, and the other 20 percent are those that have been added since then.”

            The wind chest of the organ was found to be a little wheezy.

            “That provides the air that blows through the pipe when you press a key to make the sound,” said Father Schmidt. “It was leaking and in some cases leaking so badly that there wasn’t enough air pressure there to play a particular note.”

            Wiring and electronic-valve issues also could have affected certain notes, said Father Schmidt. Those negatives aside, Barger and Nix workers informed Father Schmidt that “we got more than our fair share out of the organ, that we probably got 20 extra years out of it,” he said.

            The Kilgen organ, like the Barckhoff before it, is of the three-manual variety—three hand keyboards plus one pedal keyboard. As received by Barger and Nix, the organ has 33 ranks, or sets of pipes, but will feature 37 when the restoration is complete, said the company’s William Barger. The organ will also be fitted for two additional ranks that can be added later, he said.

            Mr. Barger said he is “delighted that we can be involved with preserving these existing original pipes” from the church’s first organ. He added that the Sts. Peter and Paul project proves that organ pipes are “not eternal, but they last for a very long time.”

            “These Barckhoff pipes will the oldest pipes left playing in any church in Chattanooga,” he said. “The other side of this is that the church, with its true Gothic architecture, has the best acoustics of any church in town. This will be a top-quality installation that everyone can enjoy and appreciate for a long time to come.”

            Barger and Nix will voice the pipe organ after its reinstallation. “Voicing” is among the terms in organ parlance that Father Schmidt said he is learning as the restoration goes forward.

            “You don’t tune a pipe organ—you voice it. I never knew that until we got into this project. The restored organ will be voiced within the church because their workshop in McDonald doesn’t have the same acoustics as Sts. Peter and Paul.”

            Barger and Nix expects the restoration to take six months, said Father Schmidt.

            Clare Sawyer plays the Sts. Peter and Paul organ at the 9 a.m. Mass on Sundays. She said she hopes the restoration is good “for generations.”

            “It’s an expensive project, but it’s a unique organ,” she said. “There aren’t many pipe organs around anymore, so it’s well worth restoring.”

            A Hammond electronic organ is currently pinch-hitting for the pipe organ. Mr. Goode said people are complimenting him on his playing of the Hammond, but he also made clear where his allegiance lies in the organ world.

            “I’m just used to pipe organs. I’ve played them all my life. I started playing when I was 3 and started taking lessons when I was 10. I’ve been playing at least 77 years.”

            He also has mastered the foibles of the Kilgen at Sts. Peter and Paul.

            “I’ve kept it going all these years,” he said. “Other people would play it for weddings and have problems with it, saying, ‘How do you play that thing?’ Well, I use my own imagination. I have things that I do.”

            Turnover is rare among the regular organists at Sts. Peter and Paul. The fondly remembered Mona Manning served at the keyboard from 1915 until her retirement more than 40 years later, and she continued to play for the occasional Mass or wedding until her death in 1972.

            Mr. Goode said there is “nothing like the sound” of a pipe organ and that the completion of the Kilgen’s restoration can’t come soon enough for him.

            “You wait until it’s finished. It’ll really be great.”

Obituary of Russell Goode