Words of Note 06.indd - Butler School of Music - The University of ...

Nine years after the Jessen Pipe Organ was sold, a portion of it
makes a return, restoring the hall’s visual and acoustic appeal.
pring break 2006 was a time of homecoming for 45 large organ
pipes. The display pipes, which lived high above the stage in
Jessen Auditorium for over fifty years, arrived back at the university
in seven long, heavy crates
after spending nearly a decade in
storage. Upon their arrival, organ
technician Keith Henderson and his
assistant restored the pipes to their
former perch in Jessen, in what was
the culmination of a labor of love
by the School of Music’s head piano
technician, Charles Ball.
“When the organ was sold and
removed from the hall in the summer
of 1997, we never dreamed that
it would take nine years to restore
the appearance and acoustics of
our most cherished performance
venue,” Ball recalled. The 1942
Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, which
was larger than the Visser-Rowland
organ that now lives in Bates Recital
Hall, was cherished and beloved by generations of students and
performers. It was the esteemed organ firm Aeolian-Skinner’s last
organ installation prior to the United State’s entry into World War
II, and was voiced by the firm’s most illustrious tonal designer and
technician, G. Donald Harrison. Aeolian-Skinner, which also built
organs for Riverside Church, St. John the Divine Cathedral, and St.
Thomas Church in New York City, was renowned for its outstanding
orchestral instruments. Brilliant chorus reeds, colorful string and
flute stops, and a variety of special stops including vibra-harp and
chimes gave the organist the colors of a full romantic orchestra at
his or her fingertips. During the instrument’s prime, organ luminaries
such as Virgil Fox, Catherine Crozier, Marcel Dupré, Flor Peeters,
E. Power Biggs, Jean Langlais, and current professor of sacred music
Gerre Hancock performed on it.
4
more than
a pipe dream
Brett Brookshire
After the installation of the organ in Bates Recital Hall in 1983,
the Jessen organ went unused and fell into disrepair. The impressive
new Bates organ incorporated a classical style of organ building
that was more popular at that time. The newly opened Music
Building and Performing Arts Center was receiving international
attention, and the organ, along with the new Steinway pianos and
Salzado harps were viewed as the jewels of the extensive new facility.
Estimates to restore the Jessen organ were in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and there were questions about whether the
Head piano technician Charles Ball
organ was suitable for a 350 seat recital hall. Finally, in 1997, the
school sold the organ to St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Amarillo
for $140,000.
The organ was carefully dismantled and the various components,
including the wide row of display pipes that hung across the front
of the hall, were crated and shipped to Amarillo. This left a dark,
unattractive chamber adorned only with peeling paint and dangling
light bulbs. Worse, the hard surfaces of the open chamber
created echoes and other acoustic problems and made tuning the
pianos in the hall extremely difficult. As a temporary solution to
get the hall through the summer recitals, a black curtain was hung
over the chamber opening. The curtain posed its own problems for
the acoustics of the hall, as the reflective/refractive qualities of the
original metal pipes had been lost. The temporary curtain remained
over the chamber for the next nine years, while other renovations at
the University took precedence.
In the meantime, the organ went through its own odyssey. Plans for
its rebuilding were postponed when St. Andrew’s Church lost it’s
building in a fire in 1996, and at
one point the organ was stored,
still in crates, in an abandoned
hospital. Nonetheless, a stunning
new sanctuary, constructed with
the tonal and acoustical needs
of the organ in mind, was finally
completed in 2005, and celebrated
organist Thomas Murray of Yale
University gave a recital for the
fully restored instrument, with its
6246 pipes, to dedicate the organ
in its new home.
When Ball learned of the organ’s
dedication, he began a series of
inquiries into the fate of the display
pipes. He eventually determined
that not only were the display
pipes excluded from the restoration
at St. Andrew’s, but also that the church was interested in
selling the unused pipes back to the university. The School agreed
to purchase the pipes, and Ball coordinated with St. Andrew’s to
take inventory of the pipes and prepare them for their return to
Austin.
The reinstallation has received a warm response from both faculty
and students. The hall has been returned to its original appearance,
and the acoustics have been substantially restored. Faculty and students
who never heard the legendary Jessen acoustics during the
hall’s zenith can now better understand why the hall was once so
popular. Jessen remains the primary performance venue for student
and faculty recitals, and the restoration of these pipes will enhance
the performance experience of countless performers and audiences
for years to come.
“The project could never have been done without the constant
support of many people.” Ball remarked, noting the school’s director,
Glenn Chandler, among the most influential in the process. For
Ball, who has worked on the pianos in Jessen for twenty-six years,
the improvement in the hall’s acoustics is particularly significant.
“I admit, my motives for the project were at least partly selfish,” he
confided. “The Steinways in Jessen sound better than they ever
have, and without any additional technical effort on my part.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL of MUSIC