Date: Tue, 4 Oct 1994 04:03:00 UTC From: Bruce C Willis Subject: Aeolian-Skinner Organ Spec. SPECIFICATION OF ORGAN CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DES MOINES, IOWA Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company Boston, Massachusetts 3 Manuals 41 Ranks OPUS 1421 1964 GREAT SWELL Quintaton 16 Rohrbourdon 16 Principal 8 Viola 8 Bourdon 8 (wood) Viola Celeste 8 Flute Celeste (CHOIR) Rohrflote 8 (ext. 12 pipes) Octave 4 Principal 4 Spitzflote 4 Flute Harmonic 4 Fifteenth 2 Octavin 2 Fourniture III-V Plein Jeu IV Trompette 8 (addition, 1982) Hautbois 16 Chimes Trompette 8 Hautbois 4 (ext. 12 pipes) Tremulant Swell 16 Swell Unison Off Swell 4 CHOIR PEDAL Cor de Nuit 8 Bordun Resultant 32 (ext. 12 notes) Flauto Dolce 8 Contre Basse 16 Flute Celeste 8 Rohrbourdon 16 (SWELL) Fugara 4 Quintaton 16 (GREAT) Koppelflote 4 Principal 8 (ext. 12 pipes) Nazard 2 2/3 Rohrflote 8 (SWELL) Blockflote 2 Quintaton 8 (GREAT) Tierce 1 3/5 Choral Bass 4 (ext. 12 pipes) Zimbel III Contre Trompette 32 (SWELL) Cromorne 8 (ext. 12 notes) Trompette en Chamade 8 Trompette 16 (GREAT) (ext. 12 pipes) (rear gallery, addition, 1980) Contra Trompette 16 (SWELL) Tremulant Hautbois 16 (SWELL) Choir 16 Trompette 8 (SWELL) Choir Unison Off Cromorne 4 (CHOIR) Choir 4 Chimes (GREAT) COUPLERS Swell to Great 16 Swell to Great 8 Swell to Great 4 Choir to Great 16 Choir to Great 8 Choir to Great 4 Swell to Choir 16 Swell to Choir 8 Swell to Choir 4 Great to Pedal 8 Swell to Pedal 8 Swell to Pedal 4 Choir to Pedal 8 Choir to Pedal 4 ADJUSTABLE COMBINATIONS (solid-state with 32 memory levels) Great 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thumb Swell 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thumb Choir 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thumb Pedal 1 2 3 4 5 6 Toe General 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thumb & Toe Adjuster Thumb Cancel Thumb (NOTE: engraved name tablets over stop jambs to operate respective division cancels.) REVERSIBLES Full Organ with indicator light. Thumb & Toe Great to Pedal Thumb & Toe Zymbelstern Toe BALANCED PEDALS Swell expression. Choir Expression. Crescendo Pedal with indicator light. MECHANICALS English Ivory on manual keys. English Ivory stop draw knobs. Tracker key touch. NOTE: The Trompette en Chamade 8 on the Choir division was built by M.P. Moller and added in 1980, the Trompette 8 on the Great division and the Great Trompette 16 foot extension on the Pedal division was built by Trivo and added in 1982 and voiced by the late Mr. Adolph Zajic, who was the retired Head Reed Voicer for M.P. Moller, Inc. of Hagerstown, Maryland. The 32 foot Pedal stop electronic extensions and the solid-state 32 memory level combination action were manufactured by Peterson Electro-Musical Products of Worth, Illinois. ------------------------------ Notes: I thought that the readers of the OrganNet might be interested to see the specifications of several of the church pipe organ installations that are located in Des Moines, Iowa, made by various organ builders such as Aeolian-Skinner, Casavant, Dobson, Hinners, Holtkamp, M.P. Moller, Reuter and Schantz. To begin things, here is the specification of the Aeolian-Skinner organ installed at Central Presbyterian Church, which I consider to be acoustically, the finest church pipe organ installation in the city of Des Moines. The church was built in the 1930's and it has a hard linoleum covered floor with no carpeting or seat cushions installed in the church sanctuary, giving the sanctuary a reverberation period of 4 seconds empty and about 2 to 3 seconds when the sanctuary is fully occupied. The organ at Central Presbyterian Church is considered to be one of the finest organs built by Aeolian-Skinner while the company was under the tonal direction of Joseph S. Whiteford, however the organ console doesn't bear a signature nameplate for the late Mr. Whiteford as some of the other G. Donald Harrison and Joseph S. Whiteford era Aeolian-Skinner organs do. Professor Robert M. Speed, who studied under Dr. Marilynn Mason at the University of Michigan, is the Director of Music and Organist at the church. Bruce C. Willis