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Steve160

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  1. The Glens Falls NY Post Star has just released a follow-up article about the destruction of the Queensbury organ. See this link: http://poststar.com/news/local/article_425...1cc4c03286.html
  2. Bert Shapiro, the filmmaker responsible for "The Organistas" and "The Stradivarius of Organs" has asked me to let you know about a special offer for the Christmas season: both videos for just $25.00 US plus $3.50 postage. I own both of these superb videos, have used them for American Guild of Organists meetings, have loaned them to students, and have enjoyed watching them multiple times. This is a perfect holiday gift for yourself -- or the organist in your life! http://www.pheasantseye.com/special-offers...cial-offer.html
  3. I have posted photographs of the organ in Queensbury, NY, which was recently and intentionally destroyed and discussed on this forum. I think the following link will take anyone to them, but I am not certain: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056...mp;l=abee53ecf1
  4. Thanks for posting the link. The reporter was one of my students almost 40 years ago, so it was good to become reacquainted via the electronic media. I will, however, continue to maintain that the outcome in this situation -- i.e. that the organ would not only be removed, but destroyed -- was determined a couple of years in advance of the organ's destruction. An organ company which would deliberately destroy such an instrument is not a firm of which I can think highly. Furthermore, I do not believe for a moment that 48 ranks of Stinkens and Letourneau pipework will be sent "to a hazard waste facility due to a lead issue," as reported in the Glens Falls Post Star. This story continues to develop. I will let you all know as more information is made available.
  5. I thought you might be interested in the specification for the now-destroyed DeMarse organ in Queensbury, NY. There were 48 ranks, 36 stops, 2395 pipes. There was no borrowing or unification. The organ was described as "an American organ, with a German accent". HAUPTWERK (754 pipes) Quintadena 16 Prinzipal 8 Rohrflote 8 Oktave 4 Koppelflote 4 Quinte 2 2/3 Superoktave 2 Mixtur V Trompete 8 (mounted horizontally) SCHWELLWERK (691 pipes) Bourdon 8 Gamba 8 Celeste II 8 Prinzipal 4 Spitzflote 4 Waldflote 2 Mixtur IV Dulzian 16 Oboe 8 Tremulant RUCKPOSITIV (638 pipes) Gedeckt 8 Prinzipal 4 Rohrflote 4 Nazat 2 2/3 Oktav 2 Terz 1 3/5 Quinte 1 1/3 Mixtur III Krummhorn 8 Tremulant PEDAL (312 pipes) Prinzipal 16 Untersatz 16 Prinzipal 8 Bourdon 8 Choralbass 4 Mixtur III Posaune 16 Trompete 8 Schalmei 4 COUPLERS Ruckpositiv to Hauptwerk Schwellwerk to Hauptwerk Schwellwerk to Ruckpositiv Hauptwerk to Pedal Schwellwerk to Pedal Ruckpositiv to Pedal Accessories included a zimbelstern with rotating star and a rossignol. The casework was made of solid red oak, with mahogany accents. The manual naturals were covered with rosewood, and the sharps with cow bone. The pedalboard was made of maple with rosewood-capped sharps. Manual compass was 58 notes; pedal compass 32. Stopknobs were hand-turned of rosewood, with hand-engraved estate (legal) ivory nameplates.
  6. Of course, Mr. DeMarse didn't fabricate small metal parts of the action, but he is quite capable of making ANY organ parts that involve woodworking skills. Pipework was by Stinkens, Letourneau, and Organ Supply Industries (larger wooden pipes). The blower, combination action (computer controller and electric solenoids) and small hardware parts were purchased from August Laukuff. Perhaps more telling, however, is the following quotation from the Glens Falls (NY) Post Star: "The removal of the organ was completed last week by Foley-Baker Inc., which will salvage some parts like the blower and send the pipes to a hazard waste facility due to a lead issue, according to Busch." Joseph Busch is the church's pastor. I trust that I am not the only one who finds it difficult to imagine that 48 ranks of Stinkens and Letourneau pipework will be discarded in this manner.
  7. That's a pretty outrageous statement. How many organs qualify as "great wonders of the world"? For that matter, how many musical instruments fit into that category? The organ was most assuredly not "unloved" or "unwanted." It's been made clear that another church was prepared to have the organ removed, stored until a space for it was ready, and re-erected in its new home. As to "unloved", consider the 400+ donors who contributed to facilitate its building, the 180 children who bought one pipe each, the 40 volunteers who assisted the builder with several labor intensive tasks. Think of the one individual who contributed $50,000.00 US toward the cost of the project. Consider the organ builder who gave 6 years of his life to build this instrument, all at no cost other than for materials, and who personally crafted the windchests, keyboards, action parts, coupler assembly, rollerboards, stop knobs, stop knob engraving, stop action, casework, zimbelstern (including gold-leafed star), rossignol, and pipe shades, right down to the wooden buttons that hold the panels in place. As to being "unfinished," the organ was in good working condition when the builder left his position as director of music at the church in 2006. He even offered to continue maintaining the organ FREE OF CHARGE, as he had been doing for the previous three years. Once Mr. DeMarse left the church as its music director, the nature of the church's music program change radically. Perhaps there were those who believed that a fine organ was no longer important to the church's liturgy. As sad as that may be, we've seen other similar occurrences in the US, even in a couple of mega-churches with iconic organs that MIGHT fall into the "great wonders of the world" category. Nonetheless, there was a church which didn't want the organ, and another that did. Now no one will have it. Mission accomplished.
  8. I bring to your attention the new article from the Glens Falls newspaper. And no, I had NOTHING to do with this article. http://poststar.com/news/local/article_a47...1cc4c03286.html
  9. The following post is from the Diocesan Organ Consultant, David Vredenburg. It speaks for itself: "The whole affair is an outrage. The pastor took a personal offense to its builder (and the former director of music of the parish) and vowed to get it "trashed and dumped on the builder's lawn" from the start of this whole process. His mind made up, he proceeded to ignore the evaluations of 5 reputable firms that lauded the instrument highly and side with the one firm he convinced, it seems, to trash it verbally. "He then presented his cooked figures and manipulated facts directly to the Chancellor of the Diocese, bypassing me as the organ consultant (he "didn't trust" my evaluation, since I hadn't sided with him) and obtaining her and the chief financial officer's permission to proceed with the instrument's removal. He was not, however, given permission to "trash" it or prevent its being examined and obtained by any interested parishes. "I suggest you express your outrage directly to the bishop: The Very Rev. Howard J. Hubbard, D. D., The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany, NY 12203-1422. "It is, in any case, too late for the organ. I understand it has been totally disassembled, and divided between the dumpster and the Foley-Baker truck. I shall never trust that company again, since it is with their slanted collusion that this has come to pass. David A. Vredenburg"
  10. Fact: this was Mr. DeMarse's opus 7; he offered to build the organ free of charge if the church paid the cost of material Fact: about 400 contributors underwrote the cost of this organ; another 180 children each bought one pipe; about 40 volunteers assisted in organ builder as needed Fact: the organ was unfinished at the time of its dedicatory recital, but was later used successfully for a recital as part of an AGO convention, and was in regular use until Mr. DeMarse's tenure as the church music director ended Fact: there was a problem with sagging facade pipes; these pipes had been built specifically for the organ by well known firm; proposals to remedy the problem ranged from repair to replacement Fact: only the firm that ultimately destroyed the organ proclaimed the instrument was beyond salvation Fact: the direction of the church's music program changed significantly after Mr. DeMarse left as music director Fact: another church in the same diocese wanted the organ and was prepared spend whatever was required to remove it, store it, and reinstall it; that church had already been in contact with a fine organ builder regarding the project Fact: there were 48 ranks of pipes, made mostly by Stinkens, some by Letourneau Fact: there was some extraordinarily fine craftsmanship in this organ; even the keyboards were personally made by Mr. DeMarse Fact: the recommendations/opinions of David Vredenberg, Diocesan Organ Consultant, were ignored; Mr. Vredenberg has made this fact public knowledge Fact: only the firm that removed the organ condemned it as beyond saving Fact: members of the church that wanted the organ, and the organist who had been asked to demonstrate the organ for them, were denied access to the building to see the organ; the following day the dumpster was delivered; the day after that, the organ was destroyed Perhaps the rest is conjecture. But that much is absolutely true.
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