1931 Aeolian-Skinner Residence Organ - Stoneleigh - Villanova, Pennsylvania

[@BillMasters56]

I enjoyed this post very much - Thank You

[@railroadralf]

Near my home are two Aeolian Organs, one in what was a residence, the other in a 1,200 seat college auditorium. The residence organ is a four manual instrument, in need of a rebuild, the auditorium organ not playable. They were both installed in 1925 to 1926. Thanks for your wonderful demonstration.... I will share it with others in order to increase awareness of what is in the two buildings. Thanks!

[@jennfierkrueger8302]

You must be talking about the Winona Aeolians. I also live near these organs. They are splendid instruments, if I ever got a chance to buy the Watkins Aeolian, I would 100% do it.

[@1431gracest]

Luke & Chris - Awesome!

[@daminspritzer]

Yay, Luke Staisiunas!!

[@johnnyjames7139]

Harold Lloyd had a 3/34 Aeolian in his home which I was lucky to see, hear and play after his passing.

[@davef.2811]

Nice presentation and a perfect match to this beautiful old home.Thanks, guys.

[@chrisingle5839]

Just before Covid, Luke played our Christmas Concert at Guthrie Scottish Rite. Glad to see him still going strong!

[@patrickrichmond9896]

For the organ itself, the console may have three manuals, but when you look at all of the pipe divisions, you can see it has five for the manuals. You have Great, Swell, Choir, Echo, and Solo. My church had an antiphonal organ installed, but it didn't have a volume control. The stops were mounted on the Great but played on the Choir. There were times when people could put a pipe organ in a house because not much pipe organs got to be the size they are these days. So in a way by looking at this house, you could in a way feel that you are in one of the houses that Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart grew up in.

[@derekstannard8605]

I love this new channel! Great organ content!

[@PeterMackett]

There is an early Aeolian organ in a private house here in the UK which has to have the stops set manually when playing the rolls, i have two CD recordings of it.

[@Yaledmot]

Excellent!

[@joespeciale5875]

Thank you for this marvelous-as usual--presentation of such a rare and historic organ--and also a professional musician’s demo of actual piece(s) on the instrument (Sometimes, some KZbin reviews-not Organ Media Foundation -show all the organ pipe work, and amazingly don’t provide a musical performance.) Great job-and what a demo.

[@patrickrichmond9896]

For anyone wanting to know what piece I am talking about is the one between the Marche Militaire and the Bach Fugue in C Major. And the piece I am talking about opens at 16:29, it does fade out but once again, you hear more of the piece at 21:23 but stops at 21:33. The piece then starts up again at 22:08 and fades out at 23:08. Then at 23:33, the organ continues with the same piece but with a different stop registration. That lasts until 23:58. But starts up again at 24:40 and fades out at 25:13 and you hear it for the final time starting at 26:02. When you put all the segments of the piece, you would think that it has been written for a theatre organ.

[@daveshafer7978]

Grew up in a small NE Colorado town. The Lutheran church there has a pipe organ just like this one. Very blessed.

[@parrotlover9035]

OMG my dream house!! When the playback speed of the Bach fugue is set to 0.75 it sounds just right. Chris' knowledge is impressive and I insist he come with the house.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

This Organ is alot of fun

[@christopherjhoh]

Great, thanks. Your terrific exploration brings back happy memories of trying it out. Looking forward to hearing it again.

[@Wanamaker1946]

Whitemarsh Hall also was graced with a large Aeolian that was only seen at the consol. The chests and pipes were all behind tapestry’s and within the walls throughout the house and staircase. Eva Stotesbury liked pieced played from the American songbook. They weren’t meant to be laud or garish. It was the Magnavox stereo of its day. When Mr. Stotesbury was announced from the gate house that he was home from his office in downtown Philadelphia, the help would put in one of his favored tunes, one being End to a perfect Day by Cary Jacob’s Bond. Can we even imagine these houses in their gilded existence? Gershwin definitely would’ve been in the Roll Library, and at parties an Organist would’ve be employed.

[@gunthermeisse457]

Great ! ! Thank you.

[@patrickrichmond9896]

What is that nice soothing beautiful piece that is heard in this video? I like it! The piece I am talking about starts at the end of the console tour, echo chamber and selections in the basement. I think it's a nice piece to listen to.

[@JonasClark]

Nice to see Luke here. I was lucky enough to hear him play live, and I respect his skills.

[@levimevis5192]

The Ruthmere Mansion in Elkhart, Indiana has one of these in their parlor that's original to the house. The aforementioned home is a museum now, but was originally built by and lived in by the son of the founder of Elkhart, Havilah Beardsley, whose home is also now a museum and a block up the road from the Ruthmere.

[@SuperLQQK]

How cool would it be to have something like this in your house!?! Though few in numbers, I think residence organs still get built.

[@bobh5087]

This was very interesting. Many thanks to everyone. 👍👏 (But I believe I'd have slowed down Dupré's speed on the Bach! Yikes! 😄)

[@The2010SnowDay]

Dupre must've had an extra coffee before he got to the studio!

[@michaelw6554]

Yikes, Yikes! Thought it was Anthony Newman.

[@emerybrotherspipeorgans9169]

Hope you all enjoyed our installation. If you want to see other videos of this and other projects of ours, see our channel here. kzbin.info/door/-nt6z_p2sQhpqTqyDkuhoA

[@ericalbany]

Aeolian also made a player console with all of the stop tabs, but no manuals.

[@p3indm]

Wonderful instrument, thank you for the thorough tour! Who did the installation/rebuild? They did a beautiful job.

[@emerybrotherspipeorgans9169]

That was us. Thanks. If you want to see other videos of this and other projects of ours, see our channel here. kzbin.info/door/-nt6z_p2sQhpqTqyDkuh

[@Tokkemon]

Emery Brothers, and Chris worked for them at the time. He's since split off on his own.

[@stephenkunst7550]

I have had the pleasure and torture to work on 2 residence Aeolians. As fascinating as they are. They have a very odd sound to my ears. Not annoying like the theater organ, but a quirky sound. Possibly its the lack of reverb. I have been to Longwood Gardens many times and always glad to go, but still think the organ sounds quirky.

[@8546Ken]

I'm curious about the player roll. I am familiar with player pianos and have rebuilt a few. It looks like this roll has smaller, closer-spaced holes. Is this true? Standard player pianos used 9 holes per inch. Even this required automatic tracking

[@secondtimeround]

Incidentally my family house in The Bahamas is also called "Stoneleigh" but definitely not a mansion!

[@miravoramarolahy5578]

I think the Marche Militaire is not R. Louis Becker but other.

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

what are the ribbons (strings) tied around some of the pipes?

[@mikemount4411]

They are tied around the pipes to keep them upright and not fall over. You will see them on many string pipes along with the reed pipes.

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

@@mikemount4411 thanks for solving a mystery

[@eddiehenry4362]

Great Video but you did not demonstrate the harp and chimes.

[@OrganMediaFoundation]

16:00 😉

[@ikonix360]

Proof that HI-FI recordings existed before the 1950s

[@samuelarcher9236]

Ye gods! That space is so dead that the notes quit playing before you lift your fingers. It would be a good practice instrument if there were some privacy, but anything one plays fills the whole house, right? So, I guess if the organist is home alone s/he can get some good keyboard time. Was it intended to have all the doors to the basement open when playing for everyone to enjoy? Thank you to all who have and are sacrificing from themselves to keep this beautiful piece of craftsmanship alive and well. There will never be another Aeolian-Skinner.

[@joespeciale5875]

You probably know that the tastes of the era often eschewed echo and reverberation..

[@TheProsaicCult]

The socks are Official A.G.O merch.

[@Highinsight7]

my goodness... that's a VERY fast C major Bach fugue...

[@HobbyOrganist]

The CC translates diapason to "diet basin" LOL!!

[@praestant8]

An opulent headquarters indeed.

[@markaustin4370]

Cool colors but a total non accoistic

[@markaustin4370]

Sorry accoustic Painfully dry

[@thebog11]

@@markaustin4370 Acoustic. :P I agree, it is quite dry!