Estey Pipe Organ Symposium
Schedule | Registration Form | Lodging | Getting to Brattleboro
A One Day Exploration of the Organs
Manufactured by the Estey Organ Company
(1901-1960)
In 1846 Joseph and Samuel Jones
established a reed organ making firm in Brattleboro, VT. In 1852,
Jacob Estey bought out their business, beginning the long story of the
Estey Organ Co. Along with numerous other companies throughout the United
Sates,
the company eventually produced some 520,000 reed organs.
However, in the 1890's production of
reed organs peaked in the U.S., and the company sought to diversify
by
adding the manufacturing of pipe organs to their business. In 1901, the
company engaged the
Roosevelt-trained
Philadelphia
builder, William E. Haskell (1865-1927), to open the pipe organ
department. During the next fifty-nine years,
the
company
built and rebuilt 3261
pipe organs, and with one exception, all of the Estey instruments
had tubular-pneumatic or
electro-pneumatic action. The large Estey factory continued to build reed organs,
and Estey also dealt in Rieger
tracker organs in the 1950's.
During
the first decades of the century, the Estey catalogs described standard
designs, the stoplists having no upperwork
but that Haskell specialty, a labial
reed stop. The stop actions included such oddities as the "stop key"
and "luminous" types,
and while the organs were built of
excellent materials, they were often so compact that maintenance was
expensive
and nearly impossible to perform.
Estey concentrated on stock model two-manual instruments and
regarded
any deviation in size and specification
as a "Special" job. Most of the older organs were sold through agents and
Estey stores,
and a company policy forbid any dealing
in old organs replaced by Esteys. Some organs shipped to the stores
or music dealers were not immediately
set up in a permanent location, and some with "Store" on the list
remained unsold for a time.
Player organs (called "Automatics" ) were popular until the 1930's and for
a few years,
around 1930, "Minuette" models that vaguely
resembled grand and upright pianos were built on the unit
system.
The Estey company not only built instruments for churches, but also theatres, hotels, lodge halls, mortuaries and homes.
In the 1950's organ building in the
U.S.A. underwent a major shift in emphasis, changing from the more
"Romantic"
style of instruments to the so-called
"Baroque" style. Unfortunately, the sometimes fanaticism of organists and
builders in adopting the "new" style meant that many wonderful older
instruments by all builders were either discarded or completely changed to
fit the new fad.
Estey sought to change with the
times, but it was probably too little, too late. The company closed
its doors in 1960.
The purpose of this symposium is to celebrate the important work done by this company as one of the major organ building companies in the U.S.A. for some 60 years, and to document and recall its influences on the American organ-building scene.
In recent years there has been a rebirth and rediscovery of the beauty and style of the builders from the early part of the 20th century and an increased recognition of the merit of their works. In many cases, it is too late; however, their is now an increasing interest in preserving and restoring these earlier instruments. Most of Estey's larger instruments are gone (with a few notable exceptions), but countless smaller instruments give faithful service week after week, year after year, and are beloved by their owners.
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Tentative Schedule
|
9:00-10:00 Registration at the Stone Church 0:00-12:00 Tour of extant Esteys in Brattleboro 12:00-1:00 Lunch on your own 1:00-1:45 Keynote
Presentation by Jonathan Ambrosino
2:00-4:00 Slideshow &
Recording
Presentations 4:00-5:00 Panel Discussion & Questions Period 5:30-6:30 Dinner at First Baptist Church
7:00-9:00
Festival
Recital, First Baptist Church (Opus
300) |
