"It has a beautiful ancient sound. It blends with other instruments. It blends with voices. It fills the church…That organ just fits there like a jewel." – John Baird, a member of the Hilbus Chapter of the Organ Historical Society in Washington, 1990.
This is one of a series of articles on music at St. Peter’s, first considering the organ and then looking into other topics, such as concerts held here, the organists who played and the choir members who have participated in services.
Music at St. Peter’s has revolved around the George Stevens 1850 organ and its predecessors. With the amount of fine music written for the instrument that is only natural. With the choir it leads the worship service with music. Our 1850’s organ is one of the oldest in Va. that is still in current use.
We have information about Stevens (1803-1894) here as well as restorations and current maintenance
Stevens built one and two manual organs for small churches, around 800 over a career that lasted almost 60 years. Patton says 20 years ago (1973) 70 of his organs had survived. I have documented 25 here including St. Peter’s. The difficulty is that some have been completely rebuilt and so it is unclear how much of Stevens’ work remains. Two are in storage waiting for sales. Want a Stevens organ for your home ? We knew a professor at Salem who had one in his home. At the turn of the 20th century it was not uncommon.
The History of the Organ in the United States (Orpha Ochse, 1975) notes Stevens’ quality or workmanship although he never achieved a popularity of other builders, such as Appleton and Hooks. Stevens for most of his life had his own shop though worked in a partnership with William Gayetty from 1833-1835 and then James Jewett in 1855-1856. Stevens’ brother William also was an organ builder with his organ shop
Stevens organ can be divided into two phases – those characterized as "quite mild" to a sound that can be said to be "brassy" and "bold sound". St. Peter’s is of the former type.
Organs have to be repaired and maintained. Patton notes that the Vestry minutes in 1947 say that the Stevens organ was “out of repair and unusable” and a reed organ was purchased and “sat under the windows” and was possibly for replacing the Stevens organ. Reed organs are not pipe organs and had to be pumped originally but later many were motorized. Sound is produced by small metal reeds through which air is forced to produce a sound. Thankfully our organ was repaired.
In the 1960’s the organ attracted attention from the National Organ during one convention. John Baird, a member of the Hilbus Chapter of the Organ Historical Society in Washington made the trip and his group in 1970 began making repairs on the organ. They care for it until the 1990’s.
In 1999, Rapphahannock Organ Company did a 6 month renovation. The original finish had been destroyed, and an authentic new finish was in order. Research was performed to verify everything from the date of construction to the most authentic wind pressure. All broken or missing parts were hand made in their shop. In 2011, Mark Thompson became our conservator.
Stevens organs are mechanical and not electronic. The key is the tracker which is a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe(s) of the corresponding note. Tracker action gives the organist more precise control over the exact moment air enters the pipe. This control affects the attack and release of a note through different touch.
One interesting point is that until 1953 the organ required two people – one to play the keyboard and the other to pump the blower. The blower handle is still present
So in this series we will look again at instrument, the organists who have served and others around. Finally, we want to look at the concerts that were held here. Music is an integral part of our worship.
To start, here is Patton’s 1993 talk on the organ which encompassed organists and earlier organs.
Nell Clarke who was the organist from 1982-2000 called the organ in 1990, "heavenly."
Reviewing Jim Patton’s file on the organ, it was apparent music was more than organ music during services. He has several examples of chamber concerts at St. Peter’s over many years. We’re talking about strings and woodwinds by themselves or with the organ. It is possible these could be revived into several concerts a year and make it a series. St. Peter’s is intimate, has great acoustics and has a built-in advantage with the Stevens organ.