The Organ

 

The Stoplist


Carl Barkhoff, A. D. 1881
STOPLIST OF THE RESTORED ORGAN
BY MESSRS. CZELUSNIAK ET DUGAL, INC.

GREAT, 58 NOTES
 
1.
 
Open Diapason
 
8' 
Bass en-façade
 
2.
 
Melodia
 
8'
 
3.
 
Dulciana
 
8'
 
TC-46p; Bass Common with Melodia
 
4.
 
Principal
 
4'
 
5.
 
Fifteenth
 
2'
 
SWELL, 58 NOTES, ENCLOSED AND EXPRESSIVE
 
6.
 
Rohrflute
 
8'
 
7.
 
Salicional
 
8'
 
TC-46p; Bass Common with Rohrflute
 
8.
 
Flute Harmonic
 
4'
 
PEDAL, 27 NOTES
 
9.
 
Bourdon
 
16'
 
ACCESSORIES
 
10.
 
Swell to Great coupler
 
11.
 
Great to Pedal coupler
 
12.
 
Swell to Pedal coupler
 
13. 
Swell Tremolo
 
SUMMARY
 
13 registers, 9 ranks, 467 pipes; 2 1/2" l water column wind pressure


The Swell and Great divisions are located on one, large, double bar-and-slider windchest, separated only by Swell shades (no tuning passage); the Swell pallet bung and tuning access are at the rear of the chest and casework enclosure (service space at the rear of the instrument); 1/2 HP Zephyr Organ Blower attached.


 

The History

In 1881, Carl Barckhoff, the German-born Pennsylvania organ builder, made a two-manual and pedal tracker organ in Allegheny, now part of Pittsburgh. In 1886 the First Congregational Church of Deer Isle, Maine, had a big new building constructed. The Barckhoff organ has now come to rest in the Deer Isle church, in September 1993. The church and the organ seem made for each other.

Barckhoff (1849-1919) built the organ for the Carrier Seminary, Clarion, Pa. By 1916 the seminary had evolved into Clarion Normal School. The Carrier family had the organ moved to their Presbyterian Church in nearby Summerville. In 1959 the church decided to install an electronic instrument and gave the pipe organ to Professor David Dickinson. He dismantled the 467-pipe organ and moved it to western Massachusetts, where it lay in various barns until the firm of Messrs. Czelusniak et Dugal, of Northampton, Mass., acquired it in 1989. On 10 January 1993 the Deer Isle church signed a contract with that firm to restore the instrument for installation in their sanctuary. In September the rebuilding was completed, and two weeks of intense work accomplished the transplant.

The case work matches the plain church interior as if intended for it all along. The acoustics favor organ tone and especially this modest but commanding instrument. Each of the eight manual voices has a strong individual character, yet they blend well in any possible combination. The Pedal Bourdon provides a suitable bass to the softest stop (Dulciana) or the full organ equally well. The three-stop Swell looks meager on paper, but yields a rich contrast to the Great ensemble. Each of the three flute voices is totally different. The Salicional is more string than diapason. The Open Diapason does not cover the other stops but joins them for a full rich sound in the reverberant church. The Swell and Great divisions are located on one large double bar-and-slider windchest, separated only by swell shades. It would be hard to design a better instrument for this interior.

So Summerville's decision to go electronic ultimately fulfilled Deer Isle's wish to replace its faithful 1946 Hammond with the sound of real pipes (unknown in any island church until now). The Organ Clearing House, Elinor Clarke of Ashfield, Mass., Grant Moss, and others took part in the chain of events that led to this rebirth. Once again the philosophy of the Organ Historical Society is vindicated by meticulous rebuilding and miraculous rebirth.

Text by the organist, Vernon D. Gotwals, Jr.