The Symphonic Organ at Stoneleigh - An Aeolian-Skinner Celebration

The TRACKER

January 2020

Organ Historical Society Symposium

The Symphonic Organ at Stoneleigh - An Aeolian-Skinner Celebration

Sunday, October 13 through Tuesday, October 15, 2019

RICHARD SPOTTS

…The Symposium ended with a gala recital by Nathan Laube at Girard College.  Located in North Philadelphia, Girard College was established as a preparatory boarding school for the benefit of children and youths of single-parent, low-income family situations.  It was permanently endowed from the estate of the shipping and banking magnate Stephen Girard after his death in 1831 and continues to serve the youth of Philadelphia. Begun in early 1931 and completed in 1933, the Girard College Chapel organ (No. 872) is the final instrument personally designed and finished by Ernest Skinner.  It is located in an enormous chamber and speaks through a vast triangular aperture in the ceiling into a majestic and generously resonant room designed by the Thomas & Martin architectural firm and built in the depths of the Great Depression. By a quirk of history, the instrument remained largely untouched by the Organ Reform Movement, and although it awaits restoration, it still speaks with indisputable grandeur.

Laube adroitly demonstrated the instrument’s symphonic and orchestral qualities discussed earlier in the day.  His program included the overture to Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, transcribed by Samuel P. Warren, Edwin H. Lemare, and Laube himself; the Prélude, adagio et choral varié sur le thème du “Veni Creator” by Maurice Duruflé; and the Fantasie und Fuge über den Choral “Ad Nos ad salutarem undam” by Franz Liszt.  His playing was simply beyond reproach.  Interestingly, Nicholas Thompson-Allen and Joseph Dzeda’s remarks concerning the preservation of original consoles were in a way vindicated as Laube offered an intimidating program on this four-manual instrument with a mere half-dozen general pistons.  His artistic prowess wedded with Skinner’s masterpiece – both taking place in a grand architectural setting at an institution dedicated to the betterment of society and located in one of the many economically challenged communities in the country – made the event one of those evenings where one felt transformed in a way that seems to be disappearing in today’s culture.  It was a reminder that such is the power of music. The call to beauty that evening was a call to make our very lives a work of art, and this is ultimately why this legacy must be preserved.  

The Organ Historical Society has begun a new chapter as it continues to reaffirm its mission.  This symposium on the legacy of Ernest Skinner was both a celebration and a recommitment to keep the organ a living, beautiful monument in peoples’ lives.