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The electric blower which now supplies the wind with much greater reliability than the older systems were ever able to.
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Some pipes removed from the organ have been stored and neglected in the basement. Many have suffered from mishandling and even trampling.
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Electromagnetic pull-downs, shown here under the Swell, now operate the tracker action and open the pallets. Originally mechanical action, this was replaced with electropneumatic 'stacks.' These in turn have been replaced by the magnets. The Pedal organ still has tubular pneumatic action for the Bourdon and electropneumatic for the Trombone.
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Electropneumatic motor box which operates the sliders on the Swell chest. Warning notices are posted where the coat hanger damaged a pneumatic motor.
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When the conversion was complete, a new 49-note Celeste had been added to the Swell, with its own electropneumatic wind chest. That chest still functions reliably…sometimes the only stop on the organ that can be caused to function!
Back to the wind pressure problem. In order to operate his electropneumatic action, Franklin Legge raised the wind pressure noticeably, resulting in a slightly forced tone, and a rise in pitch of almost a semitone. This situation continued until 1971.
In spite of the problems mentioned, the St. Stephen's organ continued to be a favourite among musicians and the musical tradition continued. The organ was in this state when I began taking lessons on it with Ian Galliford and later George Coutts. It was a truly thrilling instrument to play, and one could become lost in its majesty. Hours at the console passed like minutes. It always seemed that I had just got there to practise when it would be time to go home. Hours would have passed, unnoticed. That, of course, applied only when it worked.
During the 1960's, the organist was the very talented Peter Roe, who is not only an accomplished church musician and recitalist, but also a talented organ builder and technician. During his tenure, Peter made a number of tonal improvements and enlarged the organ to three manuals, moving the console across the Chancel at the time. When Peter left, the organ had the following specifications:
| Great |
Swell |
Pedal |
Couplers
(tablets) |
| *Open Diapason 8' |
*Bourdon 16' |
*Open Diapason 16' |
Great to Pedal |
| *Dulciana 8' |
*Open Diapason 8' |
*Bourdon 16' |
Swell to Pedal |
| *Hohl Flute 8' |
*Stopped Diapason 8' |
*Violin 'Cello 8' |
Choir to Pedal |
| *Principal 4' |
*Salicional 8' |
+Trombone 16' |
Swell Super to Pedal |
| *Harm. Flute 4' |
**Voix Celeste 8' |
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| *Twelfth 2 2/3' |
*Octave 4' |
Choir |
Swell Sub to Great |
| *Fifteenth 2' |
*Piccolo 2' |
|
Swell to Great |
| *Clarinet 8' |
*Mixture II rks |
+Stopped Flute 8' |
Swell Super to Great |
| Trumpet 8' |
*Oboe 8' |
+Piccolo 2' |
Choir to Great |
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*Cornopean 8' |
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Great Super Octave |
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*Tremulant |
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Swell Sub to Choir
Swell to Choir
Swell Super to Choir
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Draw-knob console with couplers on tablets above Swell
Manuals 61 notes Pedals 30
Action: Mechanical pull downs with ep stacks. Slider stop action
Balanced Swell Pedal - 5 stage motor
Balanced Crescendo Pedal
6 adjustable thumb pistons
3 reversible thumb pistons
Great to Pedal toe reversible
Full Organ reversible (toe)
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*Original pipes from 1906. Mainly Ryder, but some possibly Breckels and Mathews.
**Added by Franklin Legge in 1942
+donated and installed by Peter Roe
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Peter Roe used the 1942 Franklin Legge console, adding the Choir manual and controls.
It is interesting to note that the Clarinet on the Great is a rather powerful stop, not noted for the mellowness normally associated with the name. There are some Krumhorn characteristics. It is a useful Great reed, and does not suffer from not being under expression as one might expect.
In 1971 an attempt was made to improve the reliability of the organ, and it was overhauled by John Fyall and Son. But once again cost was a factor, and the old Ryder chests and action remained. The organ was dismantled, the pipes removed and complete cleaning was done. The Legge electropneumatic stacks were replaced by Kimber-Allen pull-down magnets. (The Legge action to run the sliders was retained.) All the metal pipes were sleeved for easier tuning, affecting the tone to some degree, but not too seriously. The big tonal change came when it was possible to reduce the wind pressure. Pitch has been restored to normal A=440, and the sound seems less forced then before.
About this time the Franklin Legge console was replaced by a 1928 Casavant one, removed from St. Jude's when that Church was closed. It is interesting to note that when this was done the stop names were not changed on the draw-knobs, and these were hooked up to stops with the closest sound. Thus the Great Dulciana now plays when the Gemshorn is drawn, Swell Open Diapason is now a Violin Diapason, the Piccolo has become a Flautino, and the Mixture II masquerades as a Mixture III (an effect that is achieved when the 'Flautino' is drawn with it.) The Swell Octave 4' is now known as the Spitzprincipal 4'.
The last time I heard the organ and played it was in 1970, when it could still be described as magnificent, although many stops were slow to act, and runnings occurred among the Swell ranks on occasion, caused by the deteriorating Swell soundboard. That situation remains as I write.
Back in 1947, organist Ian Galliford described the instrument as 'An atrocious organ. Wonderful sound, but atrocious!' The notorious unreliability of the old Ryder chests was the motivation for this description. Some of Franklin Legge's work added to this situation.
Time has passed. Back when I was a child Canon Ward, a family friend and godfather, would sometimes refer to his Church as, "Not St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, but St. Stephen-in-the-Red."
At times I wonder if it might not also be called, "St. Stephen-on-the Rocks." That suits both my sailing hobby and predilection for a certain Scottish beverage served over ice…
In June of this year I was invited to examine the organ and make recommendations for its future, as well as undertaking some urgent repairs to make it usable, at least. Although thinking of retiring from active organ repair and maintenance to concentrate on my writing and the Tall Ship Canada magazine of which I am executive editor, the prospect of returning to St. Stephen's held great allure. Because of Canon "Uncle Jim" Ward, I had been attending the Church off and on since I was a very small child. Here was the pipe organ that I had first played, and the Church I had attended after returning from England. It is the one in which my wife and I were married. Of course I went! The project is now under way.
My return to St. Stephen-in-the-Fields after thirty years was a shock. The Parish Hall and Rectory were gone, replaced with an apartment building. The Convent and Church Home for the Aged closed, the nuns having fled the inner city to open a new facility called Cana Place in newer part of the city. Still, one of the former Church buildings, now involved with social services is called St. Stephen's House. What I saw inside the Church itself was hard to believe.
In the middle of the Nave a complete building has been constructed, at one time housing a clinic and providing some rental income for the parish. Its tenants have long since departed. In addition to this structure, a wall now divides the Nave in half, and the Gothic arches of the aisles have been walled up, creating offices and classroom space.
The traditional furniture has gone from what is left of Nave, Chancel and Sanctuary. A few stacking chairs near the Chancel steps replace the pews for almost a thousand people. The choir stalls are gone, as are the sedilia. The High Altar is now on wheels, and moved forward, its former place of honour an empty space. The rerados is gone. The organ case remains…but not the same! The 16' Open Diapason still stands proudly in place, pipe tops reaching toward the roof beams. But there is something new! Beneath the mighty Diapason is a smaller front of painted eight-foot pipes. Reminiscent of a Continental Positive, or perhaps an English Choir or Chair, but that is not the case. I know those pipes of old. The pedal eight-foot stop has moved outside the chamber, and now is silent. I shake my head in dismay.
To the console. I turn the key and the organ wheezes into life. The Casavant console is new to me. I draw two stops on the Choir, and touch the keys. Nothing. No sound. I try the other knobs to see if they control the pipes my friend Peter had installed. The same. No sound at all.
Next, the Swell. I draw the strings and promptly there is a squeal as many pipes sound forth. Runnings. The old Ryder chest has not improved with passing years! The Great has runnings too, and ciphers. With caution some ranks can be persuaded to behave. The remnants of past glory sound forth. Briefly. Time to step inside the chamber. I do that.
A horror! Dust and dirt on every surface, in some places inches deep. Some pipes are partly filled and cannot speak. Stepping in front of the Great chest to where the Choir once stood, I find the space is empty. Chest and pipes are gone! Nobody can tell me when or where. Then around behind the Swell…the old opening arch into the Nave has been walled up. The eight-foot pedal stop is gone, chest and all. A few pipes form that front I'd seen, the rest have disappeared. And everywhere the dirt. Such terrible neglect. On one wall there is a wind chest mounted, one of Franklin Legge's, and it was not there before. The inscription on the wood suggests a string, 'Salic.' I read, a Salicional. But the pipes are of a principal. What's this? And then I see. The wind trunk has been disconnected and the wires pulled away. There'll be no sound from this, I think.
Further examination shows more dirt, loose, hanging wires. Dirt-filled pipes. Dirt everywhere. We set to work.
Cleaning first. We uncover hidden wires buried in the dust of decades. We fill a 10-gallon shop vac many times. But let's try to make it sound. The blower works and the rectifier produces DC current. Some pipes can speak. We manage to use the Swell Bourdon 16' to draw off unwanted wind, and the Swell Can play! At last the grandeur I recall comes back, as the Cornopean caps the chorus…but all is out of tune. Oh well! The Mixture is missing! We find it later and bring it back to life. Most of the Bourdon pipes are gone. No great loss…a muddy stop as I recall, and we have enough left to relieve the runnings. Back to the console. Coupling, with octaves up and down, to Great and Choir we can achieve some nice effects. Play a solo against the Swell itself, or build another chorus.
The Great is temperamental. At times for no apparent reason the pull down magnets come to life and wrong notes sound. Close the Swell box, and the Great responds with discord. Sometimes. The trick is to know just when.
And so it goes. The Pedal Bourdon has most strange behaviour! At times when on, more discords from un-drawn reeds. I shudder, and decide, "Swell to Pedal" and those few Bourdon pipes are a help.
Yes…in moments of good fortune, the sound is there. The majesty has not fled, at least not entirely.
We continue trying to make this organ usable at least. A friend who once designed nasty things for Litton Industries, guidance systems and internal missile circuits, has offered some electrical help. He is a wizard. And I form a plan.
At first the thought is to replace the entire thing, buy a used organ in good repair and place it here in St. Stephen's. Yet that's not what we want. Can we save the wondrous sound of old and bring the machinery back to life? So let it be.
The answer is new chests and action. The Ryder chests must go. The console will serve for now, the blower is old but fine and the rectifier can still be used. The swell box is effective and in good shape. The Casavant chest where the Trombone stands is good.
A friend from Temple Organs in Missouri offers hope…a price the Church can possibly afford. We'll work toward that. We'll continue striving to keep the poor old beast alive for now, a year or two or maybe three, and then!
The Ryder's glorious sound will one day return. Modern pitman chests and action. New wiring throughout. It will be a new organ, good for another hundred years or more, with proper care. And the sound that George Ryder, Breckels and Mathews and Peter Roe developed over years will be back. Best of all, perhaps, will be the chance to play it without fear of what may be going to happen next! This time St. Stephen's has the chance to do it right, and win! The future looks bright.
I'd love to play it and trust it before I die. Let's dream the possible dream!
Addendum: While working at St. Stephen's on Friday (10/22/2000), I discovered an
additional disaster:
The Franklin Legge organ company added electropneumatic stop action in order
to operate the sliders. This consists of a large unit fastened to the end of
the chest, and made up of two sections. The lower section contains the
action which is much the same as that in a ventil chest. This is connected
via wires from the pneumatics to the upper, larger box which contains the
complex system of levers which actually move the sliders in and out. Between
the upper and lower boxes is a space of about half an inch. The stop action
box for the Swell is just outside the door into a vestry... Someone had
decided the narrow space between the two parts of the action was ideal for
holding a wire coat hanger. Yes! They had straightened out the hook at the
top to go into the space between the two sections of the action, and managed
to find the tiny hole above a pneumatic pouch. As a result, the Swell 8'
Diapason no longer sounds. Because of the installation and complexity, we
are looking at about 8 hours' work to dismantle, re-leather the pouch and
reassemble the stop action. Whew! I have put warning signs in the area,
now, but I guess that really means locking the stable door after the horse
was stolen! It seems that most people, even organists in many cases, are
unaware of the complexity of the instrument...in fact to many the inside of
a pipe organ looks much more like a collection of junk than the interior of
a musical instrument!
Notes on the Casavant Console
The 1928 Casavant console at St. Stephen's Church felt very familiar when I sat down to play. At first that seemed not at all unusual, since I have always found the consoles by that builder very comfortable to use, regardless of the design period. As mentioned in my article previously, a very reliable source had informed me that this console had come from St. Jude's Church, Roncesvelles, Toronto. That building had become redundant, and was closed by Diocesan authority. At one time I had tried to acquire the console for the organ I was playing at the time, but was told it had already been sold when the organ was broken up for parts. I settled for a 3-manual Austin console for my Church, and thought no more about it until recently.
While playing at St. Stephen's, I did notice that the console had provision for forty stops, while the instrument at St. Jude's had been a smaller one, about 20-25 stops total. Still, memory fades!
Shortly after becoming a member of the Organ Focus site and publishing my first two articles, I received an email response from Andrew Mead, a talented organ builder who lives not far from my home, with further details on St. James' Cathedral and a note about St. Stephen's. Andrew identified the console at the latter as coming from St. Clement's Church, Eglinton, (North Toronto.) This made a lot of sense. It also opened up more vistas, both for this site and in my memory.
While the organ in St. Stephen's was the first I ever played, that at St. Clement's was the second, and the first on which, as a teenager, I ever played for a service. This all reminds me of another instrument that may well be described here. The St. Clement's organ, a Casavant, had major work done in the seventies, including a new console and a powerful unenclosed positiv division in the Chancel. The organ is being totally rebuilt this year by Casavant, and should prove interesting.
Anyway, no wonder the console felt so familiar to me! Many thanks to Andrew Mead for his interest and very useful information. Andrew also added to my knowledge of the St. James Cathedral organ, one which he is now maintaining.
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© 2000 Ross Trant
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