Since 1909, two exceptionally fine pipe organ building companies, the Ernest M. Skinner Company of Boston, Massachusetts (later known as the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company) and the Austin Organ Company of Hartford, Connecticut (known today at Austin Organs, Inc.) competed to be the sole provider of the organ at Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Each time a new pipe organ was required (in 1909 and again in 1955), Skinner and Austin went head-to-head to provide the most complete, innovative, flexible and musically satisfying instrument they could build. For reasons valid or otherwise E.M. Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner won out and their instruments (or significant parts thereof) remain to this day. However, Austin was never far from the picture with their shop on Woodland Street some ten blocks from the church. Through the years they were asked to consult about the organ, make minor repairs and recondition pipe work. Most significantly, they replaced the severely ailing 1911 Skinner console in 1954. How fortunate Asylum Hill Congregational Church has been to have benefited from the expertise of both firms. The companies jointly created an instrument that has provided glorious sacred music in this space over the past nine decades.

The first pipe organ at AHCC was installed in 1871 by the Hook & Hastings Company of Boston. Not much is known about the instrument except that it was the firm’s Opus #599, it had two manuals and pedal, 30 ranks of pipes and was installed in the front of the sanctuary. As the musical tastes changed and the level of musical accomplishment by the church choir, oratorio society and soloists rose, there was a call for a new organ at the same time the church was remodeled to its present neo-Gothic style in 1910-1912. A new and enlarged choir loft was built in the rear of the sanctuary and a fine Ernest M. Skinner organ was installed. Dedicated on October 6, 1911, this organ was of three manuals and 54 ranks of pipes and featured an elegantly hand-carved, dark mahogany case. Skinner’s famous organ building style was orchestral in nature and included pipes that simulated the sounds of the cello, clarinet, flute, oboe, violin and English horn along with his famous Diapason stops. The 1911 Skinner organ was put to good use; then organist Edward Laubin played 105 organ recitals, in addition to conducting major works of Mendelssohn, Verdi and Haydn, between 1911 and 1918. Skinner organs were renowned for their reliability and durability as well as their tonal elegance. It was not until the early 50’s that the Skinner organ showed significant signs of wear. While routine and benign mechanical problems within the interior of the organ were ever present, there was no problem more critical than the organ console itself. It had been seemingly played “to death” and was in urgent need of replacement. It was determined that only the console would be replaced at that time and in 1954 Austin was chosen to carry out this work as inexpensively as possible. This console, which had been taken from another church, was redesigned to accommodate the Skinner pipe work and mechanism. It was much larger in size than the 1911 Skinner console, perhaps foreshadowing the organist’s knowledge that significant reworking and expanding of the organ could soon be necessary.

Continued repairs to the organ in the late 1950’s strained the church budget and hampered musical production. Once again, bids from Aeolian-Skinner and Austin for three different instruments of varying configurations, sizes and prices were solicited. Church records show that the Austin firm has been involved in many of the repairs to keep the 1911 organ operational. Austin, justifiably, was keen about making this their company’s organ and having a showpiece literally in their back yard. But it was then organist Albert Russell who was instrumental in bringing the church committees to the Aeolian-Skinner side of the fence. After thorough investigation of the new Boston Symphony Hall organ and enthusiastic recommendation by Mr. Russell, the church voted in 1958 to award the contract to Aeolian-Skinner, yet retain the still-new four manual Austin console from 1954. The organ was dedicated on January 7, 1962, to an overflow crowd, which included three organ concerti and Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem. So impressed were the owners of the Aeolian-Skinner Company that Mr. Russell and the Choir were invited to make commercial recordings for the company.

The 1962 organ was very much “of the period”, not only tonally but aesthetically. In vogue at the time was a resurgence of the music of Bach, earlier Baroque composers and the sounds of the pipe organs of Bach’s time. Under the watchful eye of Aeolian-Skinner’s tonal director, Joseph Whiteford, the Asylum Hill organ was designed with a brightness and edginess that was quite unlike the heavier orchestral-style organ of 1911. Gone, too, was the solid wood case and in its place were radically exposed “flower box” wind chests which jutted out over the choir’s heads, pipes on the balcony rail and a set of 18’ tall wood Bourdon pipes on the balcony floor. Thousands of people continued to hear this instrument through the Boars’ Head performances and those of numerous organ recitalists, the Oratorio Choir, and multiple worship services, weddings and memorial services each week.

By 2000, the organ was once again showing signs of needing serious attention. Of critical importance was the failing 1954 Austin console. And as in the past, the music program, including the Boars’ Head Festival, were continuing to expand in scope and style and the organ was, tonally, falling short of the demands required of it. With the arrival of the new Minister of Fine Arts, Steven Mitchell and new Organist, Charles Miller, a study of the organ commenced and plans were made to purchase a new state-of-the-art, Skinner-style organ console, revoiced and relocate key ranks of pipes, repitched all pipes to bring them to concert pitch of A=440 (the same tuning pitch as an orchestra), and to add several ranks of pipes including a horizontal Herald Trumpet stop and several digitally produced 32’ stops.

The Aeolian-Skinner Company had gone out of business in the early 1970’s and three reputable firms from across the country were solicited in early 2003 for bids. Austin, as it had done several times in past decades, expressed great eagerness to build the church a custom made console in the Skinner style. Happily, the cost of their console came in under the bids of the other two companies, making possible all of the work the organ required as well as some things that had originally been thought of as extras. So the console contract was awarded to Austin.

The firm of Messrs. Czelusniak et Dugal, Inc. of Northampton, MA, has been the maintainer and of the organ for close to two decades. It made sense, with their intimate knowledge of entire instrument and the sanctuary’s acoustical properties, that they complete the tonal revisions/additions and interior rewiring aspect of the project. In August 2004 the exposed pipe work of the Great and Positiv divisions was removed, cleaned, revoiced and repitched. In September 2004, the massive 18’ tall Contra Bourdon pipes were removed from the balcony, stripped of their paint and revarnished to become more aesthetically pleasing in the room. The autumn months saw the start of the new console, the return of the Great and Positiv pipe work, and the repitching of the Swell, Choir and Pedal divisions. On Sunday, February 6, 2005, the organ went silent until Easter Sunday while the 1954 console was disconnected, the entire organ rewired and the new pipes installed.

On Monday, March 7, news came to the church that Austin Organs, Inc. had declared bankruptcy and that it would close its doors that afternoon. The church was given until the end of that afternoon to claim the organ console or risk never seeing it installed in the church. Church staff, Austin factory workers and workers from the organ firm of Foley-Baker, Inc. quickly retrieved the organ. Two weeks later the console was hoisted into the balcony and wired into the organ as the finishing touches were put on the new Herald Trumpet and the remainder of the pipe work. The organ, while not 100% complete, played as scheduled on Easter Sunday to great fanfare and enthusiastic reception. It was fully finished in April 2005 and dedicated on May 6, 2005 by British organist John Scott.

With this organ restoration project we have perhaps ended the sibling rivalry between Aeolian-Skinner and Austin. This wonderful convergence and collaboration has given this pipe organ a new voice, a new central nervous system and new lungs to fill this room with majestic, stentorian sound that will continue to inspire listeners and worshippers for years to come!

For a complete stop list and specifications, Click HERE.

To view photos of the organ Click HERE

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