Easter 1929 at St. Thomas Church, New York with Sound

Easter 1929 from St. Thomas Church, New York featuring the Choir of Men and Boys. This was likely a service staged specifically for the Fox Movietone cameras since it was filmed several weeks before Easter. Dr. T. Tertius Noble plays the 1913 Ernest M. Skinner Co., opus 205 organ.
Fox Movietone News Outtakes from the Moving Image Resource Collection at the University of South Carolina - mirc.sc.edu

[@hudsonbailey674]

Beauty is a reality that never dies. Praise the Lord. This is an excellent choir.

[@lajoiemagnifique]

The anthem beginning at 3:29 is "The Risen Christ" by then incumbent Organist-Choirmaster, T. Tertius Noble. It was commissioned by the Choir of All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta and published in 1915 (H. W. Gray).

[@SomeoneHasToSayIt2525]

Simply Divine. There’s nothing like Evensong at St Thomas. Remarkable audio and video considering “talkies” has only arrived a year earlier. Soooooo good.

[@dorfmanjones]

So many were feeling optimistic and confident. Just about 6 months before the big crash.

[@christopher3386]

Lovely. My grandmother very well could have been at that service, age17.

[@williamrich7638]

The Stock Market crash was in October of 1929, so this is just 6 months before that.

[@arpschneider]

Wow! The pitches those hymns are being sung at seem extremely high!

[@HobbyOrganist]

Video was probably sped up to reduce the flicker these old movies had when played on modern equipment

[@James_Bowie]

Remarkable sound on film recording from the earliest days of that technology.

[@DannyEastVillage]

oh my goodness. the reredos isn't completed!

[@Richard-vq7ud]

what does it look like now?

[@jackmorrison7379]

The priest looks awfully young for a rector. I assume Evensong was covered in this pre-recording for Easter by the vicar. The reredos is unfinished and most of the higher -up statuary facing Fifth Avenue appear to be missing as well. This church was still a work in progress.

[@whs1325]

I agree. I don't think it is the rector. He doesn't look the right age.

[@HobbyOrganist]

That was the organ my company replaced a few years ago as it had deteriorated badly. I can see the back of the original organ console @2:00 it was completely rebuilt and moved, and a second movable console in the same style with carvings was provided. The old Skinner organ had been rebuilt and altered multiple times over the years to the point it was no longer what it was. The 32' pedal bourdon pipes made of sugar pine had literally come apart at glue joints which failed, and boards that had big cracks in them, someone attempted to hold the together by boring deep holes all the way through the boards and inserted steel threaded rods with washers and nuts. They had also been rescaled and modified as evidenced by pencil markings and old note names that were partially obliterated. The pipes were removed, the 100 year old sugar pine was resawn and reused to make a new set of pipes and the rest of the organ was replaced, using some of the original ranks of pipes in it. A new carved case was also made Not one person in this video is still here to-day!

[@karenspivey9420]

Love it!

[@Pipe-organ-recordings]

Amazing! Utterly amazing

[@hlsmithii9528]

Über-Awesome, indeed! HOSIANNA!

[@cheekbass]

Hymns pitched at least a 3d higher than normal now. Also very slow tempi.

[@HobbyOrganist]

Video was probably sped up to reduce the flicker these old movies had when played on modern equipment

[@Pipe-organ-recordings]

Will have you discovered RX7 from izotope for audio restoration? It is worth a look.

[@leemcclelland2618]

Ah! One of my favorite hymns, " The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done."

[@garypatin9593]

I'm looking for the St Thomas Easter Service 1985 or so. It was on a cassette and was never released on Cd. And i'm hoping someone transferred to a CD

[@frederickimbimbo6246]

This is utterly amazingly beautiful. Dr T. Tertius Noble at the EM Skinner !

[@maxcohen13]

I miss the Episcopal Church.

[@Oldparson220]

An historic rite low church. St thomas was always low until the 80s when they began to High things up a bit

[@marthaparajoni8478]

Do u happen to know the name of the rector during this time? The yound man at the end of the line.

[@whs1325]

No, I'm sorry I don't.

[@fordlandau]

But not this year sadly

[@stylusfantasticus]

Such a high level of EVERYTHING ...!!!

[@leemcclelland2618]

My dad could have been there and seen this as a 13 year old boy.

[@davidlowe5505]

I'm surprised that there were no flowers...or at least brought out at some point during the service.

[@caman171]

it wasnt actually easter yet. this was filmed 2 weeks before so that it could be shown at easter. guess they didnt think of staging the flowers etc. and even if they had, this was 1929, so the lilies etc werent available yet and fake flowers were available back then. notice the altar is bare. this wasnt really a service. they couldve at least lit the candles tho lol

[@mic1240]

@@caman171 surprised they were singing hymns with word Alleluia during Lent (if two weeks before Easter), that wouldn’t make sense for a liturgical church (Catholic, Episcopalian or Lutherans).

[@caman171]

@@mic1240 i think they did it because they were taping for it to be played on easter. back in the 1920's taping a recording was an arduous process and making copies too time

[@SingerGeneLeonard]

The congregation does not sing the hymns back then?? What a shame.

[@SilverlakeDehners]

It probably was not a "real" congregation as this was staged for later broadcast.

[@whs1325]

This was staged for the cameras a few weeks before Easter. My guess is that they invited congregants to attend just so the choir wasn't singing to an empty church.

[@HobbyOrganist]

Seems unlikely, since who is going to PAY for all that just for a short film? Seems more likely the date of the recording is wrong or a different date was put on the film in the credits than it was actually recorded, we wouldn't know the "why" of that" but an altered date seems more likely than "staging" a totally fake Easter service complete with volunteer spectators, organist and clergy who did the time and work for free for a 6-1/2minute film @@whs1325

[@npal379]

What is the opening piece of music?

[@leemcclelland2618]

Ah! More than one Easter favorite.

[@saintsavioursoldgreenwich9407]

Stole & Hood?

[@frraythompson3646]

Common in those days.