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Dick Mitchell, an organ specialist from Salt Lake City, landed in the profession in 1958 while working with his
father, a member of the general music committee for the Mormon Church.
There, he was introduced to the Tabernacle caretaker, who invited young
Mitchell to work at the Utah sanctuary in 1961.[/i]
HELENA, Mont. -- He extends his arms and fingers as a
concert pianist might, both stoic and proud, but when Jon Lester
presses the keys, he winces under the sounds that bellow from the
massive pipes rising around him.
The trumpets and reeds are off.
The harmonic flute comes too high.
The tuba blows out of harmony with the oboe.
Lester
apologizes for the dismal din, but says toleration and patience are
necessary traits when tuning a pipe organ, like the one he's tending on
this day at the Cathedral of St. Helena.
"This is a very complex,
hand-built instrument," he says, his fingers tracing the keys. "There
are a lot of little things that have to be adjusted."
Lester is
part of a team of specialists contracted by the Wicks Pipe Organ Co. of
Highland, Ill., to reinstall, adjust, and ultimately tune the
cathedral's nearly 100-year-old instrument.
Lester, who knows a
bit about pipe organs and those who play them, mounts a steel ladder
and makes the climb to a hidden alcove above.
Squeezing into the
space, he opens the relay box and describes it as the organ's nerve
center. The swell box sits nearby, as do the bellows, and two stacks of
pipes rise like nesting dolls placed side by side in procession.
"We've
got several different kinds of pipes here," says Lester, examining each
of them with the brush of his fingers. "Metal pipes, wooden pipes and
big, loud reed pipes. We have to take all the funny noises out and
start smoothing out the sound."
This organ was ready in 1914 when
parishioners gathered in the cathedral for the first time on Christmas
Day to celebrate the Eucharist. While Bishop John Patrick Carroll
wouldn't consecrate the cathedral for another 10 years, the sanctuary,
at least, had its music.
Behind gilded brass gates, working under
the watchful angels captured in biblical scenes above, Greg Lester
cleans his mixing mops, blocking and tuning the pipes. Nearby, Dick
Mitchell, an organ specialist from Salt Lake City, works to harmonize
the system, ensuring the stack of pipes and valves are synchronized
with the keyboard.
Mitchell landed in the profession in 1958 while working with his father, a member of the general music committee for the Mormon Church. There, he was introduced to the Tabernacle caretaker, who invited young Mitchell to work at the Utah sanctuary in 1961.
With
more than 50 years in the field, Mitchell has seen his share of pipe
organs, including the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia, which boasts
30,000 pipes. The cathedral's own organ may be modest in comparison
with 2,800 pipes, but Mitchell believes it plays heavenly sounds and is
worth the estimated $500,000 cost to restore.
"This is a
medium-sized organ in a glorious building," Mitchell says. "We took the
old organ out and salvaged as much of the pipe work as we could.
Everything else behind the instrument is new."
The morning moves
on when Dale Fleck, grinning eagerly, pulls up a bench and places his
fingers on the keyboard. The cathedral's director of music has been
waiting years for this moment to come, to play the new organ and test
its new parts.
Fleck hammers out a hymn, something lofty and
light. He works the keyboards and stops, and stomps the pedals like Oz
working his magic behind those concealing curtains.
The marble
columns tremble, the chandeliers sway. The sounds, as if from heaven
itself, pour down from the pipes above. While the tuning is rough,
Fleck admits, it's coming along nicely.
Almost ready, he says.
"The
innards that make it work -- the reservoirs, the chess, the action and
the council -- it had totally disintegrated," Fleck says. "We started
with renovating and replacing all those parts. But the project grew and
took on a whole new life."
Valued at $1 million, the instrument
has dominated the cathedral's altar since the day it opened, washing
parishioners in glorious sound for nearly 100 years.
Yet up
against the workings of time and the constant blast of air through its
bellows, the instrument needed mending. The music had taken its toll.
While
the diocese began renovating the cathedral in 2003, it wasn't until
last year, Fleck says, that a capital campaign raised the money to fix
the cathedral's artistic offerings, such as the bells, the Bavarian
stained-glass windows, and the pipe organ.
"The organ, to some
people, was probably insignificant, but it has turned out to be very
significant in the overall scheme of things," Fleck says. "I would defy
anyone to this day to tell what's old and what's new."
Dick Mitchell, an organ specialist from Salt Lake City, landed in the profession in 1958 while working with his
father, a member of the general music committee for the Mormon Church.
There, he was introduced to the Tabernacle caretaker, who invited young
Mitchell to work at the Utah sanctuary in 1961.[/i]
HELENA, Mont. -- He extends his arms and fingers as a
concert pianist might, both stoic and proud, but when Jon Lester
presses the keys, he winces under the sounds that bellow from the
massive pipes rising around him.
The trumpets and reeds are off.
The harmonic flute comes too high.
The tuba blows out of harmony with the oboe.
Lester
apologizes for the dismal din, but says toleration and patience are
necessary traits when tuning a pipe organ, like the one he's tending on
this day at the Cathedral of St. Helena.
"This is a very complex,
hand-built instrument," he says, his fingers tracing the keys. "There
are a lot of little things that have to be adjusted."
Lester is
part of a team of specialists contracted by the Wicks Pipe Organ Co. of
Highland, Ill., to reinstall, adjust, and ultimately tune the
cathedral's nearly 100-year-old instrument.
Lester, who knows a
bit about pipe organs and those who play them, mounts a steel ladder
and makes the climb to a hidden alcove above.
Squeezing into the
space, he opens the relay box and describes it as the organ's nerve
center. The swell box sits nearby, as do the bellows, and two stacks of
pipes rise like nesting dolls placed side by side in procession.
"We've
got several different kinds of pipes here," says Lester, examining each
of them with the brush of his fingers. "Metal pipes, wooden pipes and
big, loud reed pipes. We have to take all the funny noises out and
start smoothing out the sound."
This organ was ready in 1914 when
parishioners gathered in the cathedral for the first time on Christmas
Day to celebrate the Eucharist. While Bishop John Patrick Carroll
wouldn't consecrate the cathedral for another 10 years, the sanctuary,
at least, had its music.
Behind gilded brass gates, working under
the watchful angels captured in biblical scenes above, Greg Lester
cleans his mixing mops, blocking and tuning the pipes. Nearby, Dick
Mitchell, an organ specialist from Salt Lake City, works to harmonize
the system, ensuring the stack of pipes and valves are synchronized
with the keyboard.
Mitchell landed in the profession in 1958 while working with his father, a member of the general music committee for the Mormon Church. There, he was introduced to the Tabernacle caretaker, who invited young Mitchell to work at the Utah sanctuary in 1961.
With
more than 50 years in the field, Mitchell has seen his share of pipe
organs, including the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia, which boasts
30,000 pipes. The cathedral's own organ may be modest in comparison
with 2,800 pipes, but Mitchell believes it plays heavenly sounds and is
worth the estimated $500,000 cost to restore.
"This is a
medium-sized organ in a glorious building," Mitchell says. "We took the
old organ out and salvaged as much of the pipe work as we could.
Everything else behind the instrument is new."
The morning moves
on when Dale Fleck, grinning eagerly, pulls up a bench and places his
fingers on the keyboard. The cathedral's director of music has been
waiting years for this moment to come, to play the new organ and test
its new parts.
Fleck hammers out a hymn, something lofty and
light. He works the keyboards and stops, and stomps the pedals like Oz
working his magic behind those concealing curtains.
The marble
columns tremble, the chandeliers sway. The sounds, as if from heaven
itself, pour down from the pipes above. While the tuning is rough,
Fleck admits, it's coming along nicely.
Almost ready, he says.
"The
innards that make it work -- the reservoirs, the chess, the action and
the council -- it had totally disintegrated," Fleck says. "We started
with renovating and replacing all those parts. But the project grew and
took on a whole new life."
Valued at $1 million, the instrument
has dominated the cathedral's altar since the day it opened, washing
parishioners in glorious sound for nearly 100 years.
Yet up
against the workings of time and the constant blast of air through its
bellows, the instrument needed mending. The music had taken its toll.
While
the diocese began renovating the cathedral in 2003, it wasn't until
last year, Fleck says, that a capital campaign raised the money to fix
the cathedral's artistic offerings, such as the bells, the Bavarian
stained-glass windows, and the pipe organ.
"The organ, to some
people, was probably insignificant, but it has turned out to be very
significant in the overall scheme of things," Fleck says. "I would defy
anyone to this day to tell what's old and what's new."