New organ nearing completion in renovated Cathedral
Builder reflects on instrument’s greater purpose
The man whose company built the new organ for the Cathedral of St. Joseph said his life’s mission is to produce “functional works of art.”
And like all sacred art, its purpose is to reflect back to God the greatest glory.
“We want to be able to produce the very, very best that human beings can when we’re worshiping the Creator,” said John-Paul Buzard, president and artistic director of Buzard Organ Co. of Champaign, Illinois.
The company spent the past three years designing and custom-building an instrument that’s suitable for the recently renovated Cathedral.
“As followers of Christ, we’re basically nothing but curators of something that is eternal, and we’re here for only a short period of time,” Mr. Buzard said during a recent visit to the Cathedral to survey the progress on the nearly completed instrument’s installation.
“So, we need to do our absolute very best for when we pass this on to the next generation,” he said.
The 41-rank organ occupies the same space as its predecessor, a smaller instrument that had worn out in over 50 years of service.
While perfectly suitable for solo pieces, the new organ is designed to accompany congregational singing at Mass.
“That’s its most important job,” said Mr. Buzard.
Most of the various sets of pipes are enclosed in a chamber. The organist will be able to adjust the volume at which those pipes are heard by opening and closing swell shades on the front of the organ, using a pedal on the console.
That arrangement, known as “expression,” multiplies the possibilities for mixing the organ’s voices and creating appropriate tonal effects for whatever kind of music is being played.
“So you can have the ‘color’ of full-organ but not necessarily the volume of full-organ,” said Mr. Buzard.
He lauded Shane Rhoades, the company’s production director and chief engineer, for making the specially built organ case conform to the unusual geometry of the Cathedral’s crown-shaped ceiling.
“We didn’t want the roof of the building to reflect the sound out, because it’s not as hard and dense as the panels that we added to make the organ case,” said Mr. Buzard.
The front of the case is adorned with intricate woodwork and attractively finished organ pipes.
Two ranks of pipes — including one saved from the previous instrument — speak from floor-level, right behind the choir.
“This part is what we call the choral organ,” said Mr. Buzard. “The pipes are down here so the choir can hear the pitch, rhythm and that sort of thing.”
The rest of the pipes are overhead and speak out over the choir’s heads.
“If the choral division were up there, the singers would have a real problem hearing the sound, because it would never really get down to them,” he said.
Andrew Meagher, music director for Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish, described the new organ’s sound as “clear but not shrieky.”
“‘Shrieky’ is never good,” Mr. Buzard noted.
“Our installations are warm, they’re full, they’re a very grand sound but not at the expense of brilliance when you need it,” he said.
As a result, any musical work ever written for the organ, as well as some pieces for piano, can sound good on this organ.
In addition, “it can accompany a small, timid child singing, as well as a full choir,” he said.
Mr. Meagher said having the instrument’s more colorful voices under expression means he can use them for variety and nuance without blasting the people out of church with the volume.
“You can close the shutters on them most of the time and open them up on Easter Sunday and Pentecost,” he said.
The new instrument is slated to be featured on the cover of The Diapason magazine next month, and on the cover of American Organist, a publication of the American Guild of Organists, later this year.
“Those are two of the most prestigious publications in the organ world,” said Mr. Meagher. “If you get in there, that means you’ve done something very well.”
Mr. Buzard said this organ, with proper maintenance, can still be playing over 100 years from now.
Unlike many other organs, it is built with no perishable leather in the playing mechanisms.
“Churches really appreciate the fact that they don’t have this 20-year time bomb built into the instrument, where you’ll need to re-leather it again in another generation.”
Mr. Meagher noted that organs built 200 and 300 years ago in Europe are still in excellent playing condition.
“The great ones last,” he said. “That’s how you can know 100 years later who your great builders were. They’re still playing.”
The people of this diocese got their first taste of the new organ, which was partially playable for Father Gregory Clever’s priestly ordination on Dec. 1.
Work on finishing the instrument continues.
Mr. Buzard said he’s looking forward to returning to the Cathedral for the blessing of the completed instrument.
Father Jeremy Secrist, who in addition to his pastoral duties is the diocese’s moderator for pipe organs, noted that music has the power to reveal love at its deepest level.
“And whom should we love more than anybody else but the Lord?” he said. “So the music that we use is an expression of that love, of the deepest longings of our heart.”
