History

When the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, designed by Emmanuel Masqueray, was completed in 1917, a two-manual Kilgen organ was installed in the rear gallery, this organ was enlarged and the console replaced in 1949.

In 1984, the Presidend of the College, Msgr. Terrence J. Murphy, appointed an organ committee from the Department of Music to select a builder and design a new instrument for the chapel. The committee consisted of Merrit Nequette, chair of the Department of Music, James Callahan, composer and organ instructor, and Robert Strusinski, director of the Liturgical Choir.

The committee, in developing a rationale for the new instrument, stated that a number of uses had to be considered. The instrument would serve a liturgical function in supporting worship services in a chapel seating approximately 650 people. The instrument would serve an academic function in teaching organ students, as a model for the use of organ in Catholic liturgy, and in workshops and conferences designed for parish musicians of the archdiocese. Thirdly, the instrument would be used for recitals.

The academic use would require an instrument of larger proportions than might be necessary if the liturgical use were the only consideration. Based on this rationale, the following decisions were made: the organ would be mechanical action with three manuals. The tonal design would support performance of literature of various periods. It would be tuned in equal temperament.

After considering a number of organ builders, the committee engaged John Ferguson from St. Olaf College as a consultant. The committee, after further deliberations, chose Gabriel Kney of London, Ontario.

Almost a year after the initial decision had been made by President Murphy to install a new chapel organ, Robert S. Asmuth, an alumnus of the College, made a donation to cover the cost of the instrument.

The new organ was to be placed in the rear gallery where the old organ had been. however, it was discovered that the center of the balcony could not support the weight of the new instrument. Thus it was determined that the organ/choir would be moved to the area behind the wood screen, and the tabernacle, which had occupied that space, would be moved to the east transept. With this larger space, the organ was re-designed, adding ranks that had not been possible in the gallery proposal. The result is a three-manual instrument with 41 stops of 56 ranks, with a total of 2787 pipes. The manual compass is 58 notes, and the pedal compass is 32 notes.

The organ was installed in July, 1987, by Gabriel Kney, Thomas Churchill, Lawrence Hunt, and Andrew Hayler from Gabriel Kney's shop, assisted by Gerald Johnson, a student at the College. The final tuning and voicing were done by Gabriel Kney, assisted by Andrew Hayler, in August.

Gabriel Kney is firmly convinced that an organ builder must be well-versed in both the liturgical and concert organ literature. Thus, the organ which he designed for the chapel effectively accompanies cantor and choir, and provides strong leadership in hymnody and acclamations of the assembly. It also enables the organist to play a broad range of literature.

Merritt C. Nequette

Instrument Specifications

The organ is housed in casework according to the classical Werkprinzip designed by Gabriel Kney and Art Seager. The wood used is Pennsylvania red oak stained to match the other woodwork in the chapel. In the main case, the lowest division (under expression) is the Swell, with the Great in the middle and the Oberwerk on top. The large pipes of the Pedal division are in a separate case behind the main case. The basswod pipe shades and grille over the Swell shutters were carved by Gabriel Kney based on motifs found in the paintings on the ceiling of the chapel.

The key action is mechanical. The stop action is electric, by drawknobs in terraces on either side of the keyboards. The manuals use ebony wood for the naturals, and coral padouck with white bone overlay for the sharps. The combination action is solid-state capture type with eight memory levels. The chests employ a pallet and slider system. The winding is supplied by seven wedge-shaped bellows, allowing different and stable wind pressure to the various divisions.

The tonal design and scaling of pipes were done by Gabriel Kney. The wooden pipes of white pine or mahogany were made in his shop. The metal pipes, custom-made by independent pipemakers, vary from 80% tin for pipes of principal character to 40% tin for those of flute character. The horizontal trumpets are burned copper.

The attached console has an enclosed television monitor on the right which permits the organist to see the choir conductor, the sanctuary, and to coordinate antiphonal performance from the gallery. On the left, also enclosed, is a telephone.

Great (Manual III)			Oberwerk (Manual I)
Gedeckt	16'		Holzgedackt	8'
Praestant	8'		Praestant	4'
Rohrflote	8'		Rohrflote	4'
Oktav	4'		Nasat	2 2/3'
Spitzflote	4'		Oktav	2'
Blockflote	2'		Terz	1 3/5'
Mixtur IV	2'		Quint	1 1/3'
Zimbel II	1/2'		Scharff III	1'
Cornet V	8'		Krummhorn	8'
Spanische Trompete (Horiz.)	8'		Treumulant
Bajoncillo (Horiz.)	4'
Zimbelstern
Tremulant
Swell (Manual II)			Pedal
Flute	8'		Praestant	16'
Gamba	8'		Subbass	16'
Celeste	8'		Quintbass	10 2/3'
Principal	4'		Prinzipal	8'
Flute	4'		Gedecktbass	8'
Flute Traverse	1 1/3 '		Choralbass	4'
Plein jeu III	8'		Mixtur IV	2 2/3'
Bassoon	16'		Posaune	16'
Trompette	8'		Trompete	8'
Hautbois	8'		Zink	4'
Clarion	4'
Tremulant

Guest Recitalists

To view the programs for each individual artist, please visit the Program Archive section of the site.

Joseph Adam	USA
Diane Bish	USA
Ulrich Böhme	Germany
Kevin Bowyer*	England
James David Christie*	USA
Craig Cramer*	USA
James Diaz	USA
Vincent Dubois	France
Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet*	France
Thierry Escaich	France
Michael Farris*	USA
Hans Fagius	Sweden
Hans Fagius	Sweden
László Fassang*	Hungary
John Ferguson	USA
Steward Wayne Foster	USA
Robert Gallagher	USA
Robert Glasgow	USA
James Goettsche	USA/Vatican City
David Goode	England
Jean Guillou	France
Gerre Hancock	USA
Martin Haselböck	Austria
David Higgs	USA
David Hurd	USA
David Hurd	USA
Hyeon Jeong	Korea/USA
James Kibbie	USA
Grethe Krogh	Denmark
Nicolas Kynaston*	England
Olivier Latry	France
Olivier Latry	France
Huw Lewis	USA
Joan Lippincott	USA
Ludger Lohmann	Germany
Roberto Micconi	Italy
Marvin Mills	USA
Bruce Neswick	USA
Karel Paukert*	USA
Peter Planyovsky	Austria
William Porter	USA
Yeves-G. Préfontaine	Canada
Christa Rakich	USA
Leonard Raver	USA
Dana Robinson	USA
McNeil Robinson*	USA
Almut Rössler	Germany
Wolfgang Rübsam	Germany/USA
István Ruppert*	Hungary
Thomas Schmögner*	Austria
Dong-ill Shin*	Korea/USA
Larry Smith	USA
Peter Sykes	USA
Johathan Tuuk	USA
John Walker	USA
Susan Carol Woodson	USA/Belgium
* Recital was a part of the Sacred Arts Festival