 |
|
The Chancel case with 16' Diapason display |
 |
|
1928 Casavant Console - from St. Clement's Church, North Toronto replaced the 1942 Legge Console in 1973. Notes on the Casavant Console
|
|
|
Contrasts! The original indicator for the hand-pumped wind supply still shows under a solid state relay. The pencil note says, "Keep indicator between two lines." A corner of the seven foot by seven foot reservoir can also be seen.
|
|
|
Remains of the hydraulic pumping system that used to freeze in winter. This was a high-tech replacement for the hand pumped feeders installed by Ryder.
|
|
As is often the case, the story of the pipe organ at St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church in Toronto is very much tied in with the story of the building itself. The ups and downs of the instrument certainly coincide with those of the parish. The Church is located in the West - Central part of Toronto's inner city. The address is 103 Bellevue Avenue, but the entrance currently in use is on College Street, a major thoroughfare that runs east and west. If you are looking for the building, it is located on the south side of College Street, between Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street. It is easily reached by public transportation, with the College streetcar close by.
St. Stephen's was built by the Dennison family, wealthy landowners whose home, Bellevue House, was near the site of the Church. Constructed of brick, the building was designed by the well-known ecclesiastical architect, Thomas Fuller who later moved to Canada's capital city, Ottawa, known, when the Church was built in 1858 as Bytown. The original building consisted of just the nave of the present structure. So far I have been unable to get any information about the organ then installed, except that it stood on a small gallery over the West door.
Less than ten years after it was built, the Church was gutted by fire. The Dennison family as patrons of St. Stephen's had the building reconstructed. As much as possible of the original became the Nave, and a large Chancel and Sanctuary, with a Lady Chapel were added to the East end of the building. The Chapel was (and is) located on the North side of the Chancel, and a spacious organ chamber was built opposite. The chamber was designed well, and is entirely within the building. There is a large opening into the Chancel, and another was provided into the South aisle, the display pipes forming a rerados for the Altar in another chapel located in the aisle.
Architecturally the Church has a very 'English' look, although as one who lived for a time in England, I never saw a Church, urban or rural, that quite matched St. Stephen's. While it has been described as a Gothic Revival structure, that is not entirely accurate, and, in fact, it shows some of the attributes of an 'A" frame building. The walls of the Nave are low, with the windows set into dormers while the roof rises to a ridge far higher than the walls. After the fire, the broad Nave seated some 900 people until recent changes. There was a spacious aisle on each side separated from the central Nave by rows of pillars and Gothic arches. The 'new' Chancel and Sanctuary are lofty, and a display of 16' organ pipes is easily accommodated in the case. The acoustics were excellent, and are still very good, even though drastic changes have been made to the structure. More about that later. Still, the exterior has been preserved, and the structure declared of historic and architectural importance.
Again no information is currently available about an organ in the Church until the present one was installed in 1906. There was a large harmonium in the Chapel on the South side of the Nave, and this did have enough power to accompany hymns when the pipe organ failed to function. That instrument has since disappeared.
The Church's location today is highly urban and inner city by nature. When the Dennison family built it, St. Stephen's was in the country, and thus St. Stephen-in-the-Fields. The fields were real. While the Church did have a few wealthy parishioners, it was never a wealthy parish, the building being rather grand for its congregation. The implications as the city grew and changed were obvious for the future. A large and expensive building to be maintained without a large budget to support it. Thus as time went on, the congregation found it necessary to cut financial corners when it came to furnishing and maintaining the building. This restraint applied to the pipe organ.
In 1888, George Ryder, organ builder from Reading, Massachusetts, was contracted to build a new instrument for New Richmond Methodist Church on McCaul Street, less than a mile east of St. Stephen's. It was a fairly large instrument for its day, two manuals and some 27 ranks of pipes. The action, of course, was tracker (mechanical) with Barker lever (pneumatic) action for the larger pedal stops. The organ was Ryder's Opus # 149. While romantic in nature, the Ryder organ did have some nicely developed harmonics, and was much brighter and fiery in sound than many other North American instruments of the time. Rather than following the French or English tonal pattern Ryder based his work on the German model.
In 1906, the New Richmond Methodist Church, due to a major change in demographics, was sold to a Jewish congregation to be used as a synagogue. The new owners had no need of the organ, and it was put up for sale. The people of St. Stephen's purchased it from the Methodists. Just before it was to be moved, a dispute over the ownership of the instrument arose between the Methodists and the new owners of the building. Worried that the fine instrument they had purchased might not come to them after all, many of the men from the congregation spent the night outside the former Methodist Church, to ensure that it was not touched by anyone else. It was not. In the morning the men from Breckels and Mathews, a highly reputable firm of organ builders, arrived, the organ was dismantled and removed.
Breckels and Mathews made some fairly major changes in order to suit the instrument to its new home, providing a new key desk and key action, adding a couple of ranks and rearranging the pedal pipes and some of the Great Organ. A display of 16' Open Diapason pipes, painted and decorated in rather Victorian fashion formed the façade which can still be seen. Other decorated pipes from the 8' pedal stop which had been on display in the former Church were installed inside the chamber. The disposition was Great 10, Swell 11 and Pedal 3. The façade contained pipes from the Pedal Open Diapason 16' and the bottom octave of the Great Open Diapason 8', with the unenclosed Great immediately behind, and behind that the Swell, with a walkway between the two divisions. The Pedal Bourdon 16' and Violin 'Cello were located to the west of the manual chests. The organ remained much the same as this until 1942.
When first installed in St. Stephen's, the organ, now bearing the name-plate of Breckels and Mathews, was hand pumped, and the indicator lines and instructions are still to be seen. At some point, however modern technology caught up with the instrument and a hydraulic blowing system was installed. The remains of this are still in the basement under the Chancel. The water-powered blowing system seemed to work quite well in the warmer weather, but it had a tendency to freeze in winter, rendering the organ speechless.
In the 1920's a major advance was made under the leadership of the Rev'd. Canon James Ward, a priest who was also an accomplished musician, writer and pioneer in may fields. At Canon Ward's insistence the hydraulic blowing system was retired and the first electric blower installed. The feeders were removed, but the main bellows, 7-feet square, was retained as the reservoir, and is still in use today.
Meanwhile the musical life of the parish thrived. St. Stephen's became known for its fine choir and the distinguished musicians who sought and held the position of Organist and Choir Master. The organ itself became well known, and its unique sound was thrilling. Powerful reeds with lots of fire, assertive yet not muddy diapasons, romantic strings and clear flutes all blended into a bright chorus. A joy to hear and to play, at least when not plagued by mechanical problems. Outstanding organists were willing to put up with its idiosyncrasies, for the sake of its glorious sound.
The year 1942 brought the first major change in the organ since the days of Breckels and Mathews. In that year the mechanical action was electrified. The Ryder chests were becoming unreliable…(they still are!) and the heavy tracker action and long draws on the stop knobs had little appeal to the organists who had learned their art on instruments by Warren and Casavant, and the more recent work of Breckels and Mathews, to name a few builders. It was the modern age, and new technology must be applied to the organ. After all, this was a Church of the Twentieth Century --- Canon Ward had pioneered Church radio broadcasting from St. Stephen's. This medium made the voice of the priest and that of the organ familiar to many thousands across the country and into the United States. In keeping with the times, the organ was electrified.
Sadly the parish did not have the funds to have the work done by one of the leading builders, and the Franklin Legge Organ Company was called in. The original Ryder chests, pull downs and pallets were retained, in spite of growing unreliability due to wear and splits occurring in the sound boards, exacerbated by dryness during the heating season. The sliders were also kept.
Mr. Legge installed electropneumatic stacks under the chests to operate the pulldowns and pallets. These were quite efficient, and of his own design, but they had one problem. They needed higher wind pressure for proper operation. Similar devices were attached to the sliders, and these remain in use today.
A new and rather impressive draw-knob console was installed under the façade, facing West. This part of the organ was definitely a relief for the organist with its light touch and adjustable pistons. Now, too, the organist could keep his eye on the choir without relying on a mirror and a twisted neck.
Next Page -->>>
© 2000 Ross Trant
|
