Musical Instruments
Sacred Sound: The Instruments That Shape Worship at First Presbyterian
First Presbyterian has three organs: a 56-rank Casavant Frères/B. Rule & Co. instrument in the sanctuary, a 9-rank Baroque chamber organ by Taylor and Boody Organbuilders in the chapel, and a 3-rank Ott/B. Rule & Co. Opus 1 portatif organ, usually situated in the sanctuary. Also in the sanctuary is a 3-rank single-manual Ross/Lebedinsky harpsichord witha range of five octaves. A Steinway Model M piano is in the sanctuary chancel and a Steinway Model S in the chapel. First Presbyterian also has an extensive collection of Sonor Orff instruments, 5-octave and 3-octave sets of Malmark handbells, and various other percussion instruments.
Chapel Organ
This organ is typical of a small 18th century English organ. In fact, there is a letter from George Frederick Handel sated September 30, 1749 listing the stops for a chamber organ that he wanted to be built for his own use. Aside from the pedal stop, which his organ did not have, the stops of our organ here in the chapel of First Presbyterian are identical to the ones he proposed.
Great Echo Pedal Couplers 8′ Open Diapason 8′ Stopt Diapason 16′ Subbass GT/PD 8′ Stopt Diapason 4′ Recorder EC/PD 4′ Principal 2 2/3′ Twelfth (c’) 2′ Fifteenth 1 3/5′ Tierce (c’)
Mechanical key and stop action
Compass: Manuals, C,D-g’; Pedal, C,D-f’
Kellner temperament
Lowest note for treble stops adjustable: c’ or cs’
Metal pipes of hammered lead-tin alloys
Case and pipe shades of solid walnut in
Classical English style
8′ Stopt Diapason common to both manual
Sanctuary Organ
The sanctuary organ at First Presbyterian Church was built by Casavant Frères in 1963 adhering to the modernist ideals of the Organ Reform movement then in fashion. The Casavant Opus 2756 spoke boldly and brightly with unhindered tonal egress. Heavily used for fifty years, the organ was found to be overly inflexible, sonically aggressive, and tiring to listen to in the acoustically dead room.
In 2016 a complete rebuild by B. Rule & Company replaced two ranks and revoiced the pipes of the remaining ranks by closing some open toes, opening windways, and nicking discreetly. The addition of curving to the Pedal and Great trumpets achieved a darker vowel sound. Wind pressures were raised slightly to create a more fundamental tone and better control with the closed-toe voicing. All of the flutes and most of the more delicate Positive principal stops were left with open toes.
B. Rule added 8’ Trumpet and 16’ Clarinet stops to the Swell division, and in 2024 an 8’ Concert Flute was added to the Positive division.
The Pedal division was augmented with a 16’ Bourdon on 4-1/2 inches wind pressure to add weight under big registrations. A 16’ Principal was omitted due to space limitations.
Re-plastering portions of the walls of the nave, removing pegboard in the ceiling of the side aisles, and removing the pew cushions distinctly improved the room resonance, especially in the bass.
The new console consists of a maple cabinet, terraced stop jambs, and key cheeks of sapele wood. The oblique knobs are of pau ferro and maple. The music rack is of mahogany crotch burl with an integral LED music light. The control system is a Peterson ICS-4000 with MIDI, 99 levels of memory, and sequencer. The organ now consists of four divisions including 47 stops, 56 ranks, and 2,986 pipes.
The congregation of First Presbyterian Church now enjoys an organ that projects comfortably down the full length of the nave with a warm, pleasant voice and excellent clarity of the plenum. We look forward to praising God for many years with an excellent instrument.