1891 Schuelke Organ - St. Boniface Catholic Church - New Vienna, Iowa

Brent Johnson and Andrew Schaeffer explore the William Schuelke pipe organ at St. Boniface Catholic Church in New Vienna, Iowa.
OHS entry for organ: pipeorgandatabase.org/instrum...
St. Boniface Catholic Church: spiresoffaith.com/st-boniface
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[@mylesschlicher965]

Brent and Andrew make a great organ demonstration team.

[@joshroberts4281]

I second that statement. I admire this organ and church. Keep at it Brent and Andrew. You make the best organ demo team.

[@pries550]

The organ in St. Boniface church in New Vienna sure is special. Thanks for sharing!

[@jonathanstark6526]

OHS visited this church and organ at the 1986 convention in eastern Iowa. My first OHS convention. New Vienna was the evening recital that particular day of the convention, William Kuhlman played the recital. The organ received its OHS historic organ plaque at the beginning of the recital. It was a memorable evening, the temperature was reasonable and before the recital some of the church windows were open and birds were singing in the churchyard. To come across this magnificent church and beautiful organ in a very small town far out in the Iowa countryside seemed a bit other-worldly. (I grew up in NJ and prior to 1986 had never been to Iowa, so what did I know?) I'm so glad to see the instrument is still there and that the church understands and values what it has.

[@jonwelch686]

This old gem deserves a 16’Trombone as an addition.

[@kontrahylian]

The Irony of this is that I never got a chance to hear this organ in real life when I lived in Iowa, but I am glad Brent and Andrew did a video here this organ is absolutely tremendous for a rural parish church. As far as other historic Iowa pipe organs there is an 1896 II/27 W.W. Kimball pipe organ at Union Sunday School in Clermont, Iowa. (Roughly an hour's drive northwest of New Vienna) That particular organ is the largest surviving unaltered Tubular-Pneumatic pipe organ built by Kimball. I am absolutely thrilled to see someone document the diversity pipe organs of Iowa. I have a personal connection to two pipe organs in Cedar Rapids they are the II/15 1992 Op. 22 M.L. Bigelow tracker organ at St. Andrew Lutheran Church which was the first pipe organ I played, and the 3/12 1928 WurliTzer Theatre Organ at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids which was where I became a theatre organ enthusiast on the behalf of the late James Oliver who maintained and slightly enlarged that instrument in the mid-1980s. It was also one of two theatre organs that were nearly lost in a calamitous flood in 2008.

[@chuckt8457]

Those are the sounds an organ should make!

[@SpitzPrincipal4]

WOW That organ has a BEAUTIFUL HIGH REGISTER!!!! And what a selection of stops for an organ of that age!!!!

[@louGriggs1944]

Being nearly deaf in one ear, I have nowhere the ear that you do, but what I hear is beautiful. And a great discussion of this wonderful instrument too. Thank you.

[@paulh5293]

What a beautiful instrument. George Ashdown Audsley (writing around the time this organ was built) was very vocal in his belief that the main 8ft should be called "Principal" rather than "Open Diapason", and he was also strongly of the opinion that choruses should be much milder than those normally supplied by English and American organ builders. Hearing this one makes me think he was definitely onto something. With a dab of TLC this organ could sound spectacular but what a testament to Schuelke that it sounds as good as it does after over 130 years. Thank you for posting.

[@hoover1060]

WOW!!! what an absolutely beautiful instrument!

[@johnwidmann1674]

This is one of the nicest organs that you have explored. What a gem, all around!

[@joshroberts4281]

Andrew playing this organ brought the hymn Salve Regina to life! I like how Andrew has the inclination to play and demonstrate in such a way to incorporate not just demonstrating an organ, he connects well with each setting he is in.

[@andrewschaeffer6389]

I appreciate your kind words!

[@alanrogers5106]

What a lovely organ!!! That church would make a nice place for retreats

[@jrzzrj]

👍Really great, full robust sound. Great acoustics too.

[@robertmiller8336]

What a lovely instrument! A side note, When I looked up the town on a map app, while not an organ site, is where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed.

[@rileysindt6689]

It’s close! New Vienna is just outside of Dyersville, where the movie was filmed

[@citylimits8927]

Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming MI has its original Schuelke Organ. The story of how they moved the from the old church into storage, then into the new church is long, but the Levsen Organ Company restored the case, chests, and they brought the original voicing of the pipework back to life. They had to use electric action, but tonally it is like the original!

[@louisglen1653]

Very nice organ! Beautiful church!

[@johnspeller3666]

Aeolines are also useful for accompanying solos on the Dulciana.

[@Velostigmat]

My guess is that calling the knob "Oboe & Bassoon" tells 1890s organists that the rank is full compass. Thank you for posting this video. I had forgotten about this pilgrimage instrument; and, man, this organ really gives a good account for itself.

[@originaltommy]

What a fabulous instrument! I should think that even our best builders today would be proud of this work.

[@joshsellner7213]

Very nice. St. Mary's in Remsen, Iowa has an 1890s Schuelke with its original tubular-pneumatic membrane chests. It was restored by Dobson at some point in the late '90s or early 2000s if I recall correctly. We had a 1907 Schuelke here in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota at St. Mary's similar in size to the New Vienna instrument (incorrectly noted as having been built by B. Schaefer in an early parish history). A local newspaper article from the time of its installation in 1907 recently surfaced and put an end to any confusion about the builder. It contained a "mechanism of the latest patent" (Schuelke's patented membrane chest actions). Unfortunately, the chests were failing by the mid-1940s and it was rebuilt by Wicks in 1947, though retaining most of the pipework from the Schuelke due to scarcity of metal for new pipes due to WWII. The beautiful twin Gothic cases were also unfortunately thrown out at that time in favor of poorly-built chambers.

[@TruckguyTruckguy]

outstanding sound and volume. i think more organs like this could be built as a "semi-spec" type to start kicking out the electronics.

[@barton1931]

One of my all time favorite Schuelke organs! VEry nice job! You MUST come to Milwaukee again, and shoot a video of the 1885 Schuelke at St. Francis church. That is another Schuelke that is unaltered, and while playable, is in need of restoration.

[@DrpanProductions]

Haha not often i find someone who is a siren enthusiast in my other personal interests! 😂

[@rileysindt6689]

Agreed! I got to play that one. It’s remarkable.

[@claudehaynes6419]

Wonderful organ, lovingly maintained.

[@charleswray404]

What a find need recordings. Thank you.

[@robbicu]

I worked with J Stanton Peters a few times. We spent a lot of time doing liquid lunch. If you know what I mean. At 24 ranks, he'd say 'Well, that's a good start!'

[@agogobell28]

A real German-Romantic organ in the US! With a few little Anglo-American touches, of course.

[@MilsteinRulez]

The chorus sounds almost straight-line, with everything developed out of a single scale, sometimes with the exception of the 8-foot, which may be larger by a half-tone or two. That's decidedly not what Schnitger did, or most of the English school following Father Willis, who went up by steps of minus-two half tones. Mature Silbermanns are straight-line from 4' up. Here the Mixture might be smaller, but the 4, 2 2/3 and 2 seem to be straight-line, Quite fascinating, thank you!

[@jefferyrowley8873]

This is wonderful! What an unusual acoustic for an American Church (I know there were plenty of older edifices that had great acoustics, not all were spared from "modern sensibilities". Please consider visiting another Iowa beauty - the 1876 J.G. Pfeffer one manual - outstanding instrument at the St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church (another perfect example of the marriage of organ/church sanctuary). in the rear gallery in the interesting town of Spillville, Iowa, which also has a musical/clock museum. Also interesting!

[@johnspeller3666]

This is the church where Antonin Dvořák was summer organist in 1893.

[@jefferyrowley8873]

@@johnspeller3666 Exactly when he was writing (Symphony # 9) - "From The New World" opens in e minor. The previous Symphony (#8) was shockingly in G Major, which was highly unusual for a Romantic Symphony at that time. The 8th Symphony could be called the "Song Symphony" (Dvořák did not number the last 4 Symphonies and they were also not published until after his death in 1904). The (#9) opens in a glorious e minor with the unusually self composed theme of the Largo with the phrases that all end on their starting notes! The organ from what I understand was faithfully restored by Dobson in 1996. The organ only has one manual and an unusual Pedal division with 2 stops and perfect they are a Subbaß 16' AND a Violoncello 8'. No reeds but a full chorus for principals and flutes plus a Gambe 8'. You can play all of Brahm's Choral Preludes from his Opus 122 very effectively and the church which is quite large is filled with sound from this tiny instrument that is well balanced.

[@rolandjohannes6734]

Amazing! Do you know where Schuelke learned his trade in Germany? Sauer?

[@louiedamico3710]

Brent, are those two fans mounted sideways on the top of the organ case? Any reasoning given why that was done, if so?

[@Velostigmat]

What is the intro piece?

[@kontrahylian]

Organ Symphony No. 3 in E minor Op. 13, No 3: III. Marcia by Charles-Marie Widor

[@Velostigmat]

@@kontrahylian thank you. I thought it was Widor, but I could not find it looking through all of the final movements.