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 Make A Joyful Noise!
Our Skinner Organ
The organ here at First United Methodist Church was built in
1925 by the Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts,
opus number 528. The installation was completed in November of 1925,
and the organ was
dedicated in February, 1926 by organist William Zeuch It is a
four-manual
organ with 44 ranks of pipes housed in two chambers on either side of
the
choir loft.
 Ernest M. Skinner is considered to be one of the premier
organbuilders
of the 20th century. During the first half of the century it was
very popular to play arrangements, or transcriptions, of symphonic
compositions on
the organ. Many organs of this era are referred to as "symphonic"
or "orchestral," because the builders were striving to imitate the
sound
of orchestral instruments, such as the French horn, clarinet, oboe,
flute,
etc. to accommodate the performance of these transcriptions.
Ernest Skinner was the leader in this style of organbuilding, and
introduced
many innovations in organbuilding and organ tonal design which
are
still highly regarded today.
 In the 1950s, musical
tastes began to change, and soon the symphonic
style of organ began to be thought of as out-of-date--its tone was
considered
too heavy and dark, and many of the stops were considered overly
sentimental. Consequently, many symphonic organis were drastically
altered in
attempts to "modernize" them, or in many cases thrown out altogether.
In recent years there has been a renewed interest and appreciation of  the symphonic organ.
Organbuilders are being asked to attempt to
reverse modifications to these organs which were made previously, to
return
them to their original condition. We are fortunate at First United
Methodist that our Skinner organ was never subject to any of these
misguided attempts
atmodernization, and it exists today just as it was installed in
1925. It is an important historic monument to the symphonic school of
organ building.
 Our Skinner organ
performed magnificently for 75 years. However,
the years of use had taken their toll, and the church was faced with
major
repairs to try to keep the organ playing. Then, in 2005, our Skinner
organ
provided its own salvation. We heard about a foundation which provided
grants to restore organs built by E. M. Skinner, as long as they were
completely
intact and had not been altered to the point that they were  unable to
be
restored to their original conditions. Since our Skinner organ
qualified under these guidelines, our application for a grant was
accepted, and in
2005-2006, the organ underwent a total restoration.
 The restoration work was
carried out by the Spencer Organ Company,
Inc.,
Joseph Rotella, President, and Jeff Weiler Pipe Organ Curators,
Conservators, and Consultants. The organ was rededicated in 2006
with a series of organ concerts given by Ken Cowan, Thomas Murray,
Cameron
Carpenter, and our organist, Michael Shawgo.
Resources
and Links
- Click here
to view the Stop List.
- Click here
to visit the Spencer Organ Company.
- Click here to visit Jeff
Weiler Pipe Organs.
- Click here
to view the WGN video of our
Organ on the Spencer Organ Website.
Our
Chapel Organ
Our
Handbells
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Click here
to view concerts and other activities in our music ministry program.
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| Last Update
04/28/2008, First United Methodist Church of Oak Park in Illinois,
http://www.fumcoakpark.org. |
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