1834 Joseph Alley Organ - First Religious Society U.U. - Newburyport, Massachusetts

Brent Johnson and Justin Murphy-Mancini explore the 1834 Joseph Alley organ of the First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist in Newburyport, Massachusetts as restored by A. David Moore.
Specification of the Organ: www.frsuu.org/...
First Religious Society, Newburyport: www.frsuu.org/
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[@robauthier8181]

Such a wonderful commentary about this historically-delightful instrument

[@j_murphy-mancini]

Thanks so much for coming to visit! We loved having you stop by and meet this special instrument.

[@davidm.kenneyjr.7426]

I would love to have you come visit Chester Congregational and Baptist Church, Chester, NH. I know Justin; I've been studying with him over the summer. Once the sanctuary is redone I would love to have you come and visit, and I could show you the organ! I play there regularly. It's quite cool that you went to see this organ, on which I have had the pleasure of studying.

[@chuckt8457]

Beautiful sound

[@matthieubazile3350]

Another lovely history instrument! I love the console! It’s also great to have a demonstrator that has an extensive knowledge of the instrument too.

[@johnball3487]

I was there in the 1980's for the OHS convention! Wonderful convention!

[@terlab]

Celestial.

[@anziedodge3484]

Ju stin: Thanks for a wonderful presentation. I learned a lot. Chuck Kennedy

[@richardouellette8785]

What a nice demo, Justin! I think I understand that organ much better now. I knew it from the 1970s before the recent changes. Sounds great!

[@bertspeggly4428]

A lovely organ. The phrase " Confounded Box of Whistles" was used originally by Christopher Wren to describe the organ (in, I think, Kings College Chapel, Cambridge) as he considered that it spoiled his architectural concept.

[@ianbrowne8871]

Wren was complaining about the Father Smith organ ruining his masterpiece of St Paul’s Cathedral. This instrument stood on a choir screen but this was removed in 1870. The organ was rebuilt by Willis and divided either side of the choir, the two facades being reused.

[@ianbrowne8871]

This sounds so English, but so little of this age survives un altered here from the early 19thC. An English comparison might be the recently restored organ at Thaxted, in Essex.

[@Lubbert77]

A few more remarks: There was no Celeste originally, but a Salicional and an Aeoline. The Violoncello is based on Cavaillé-Coll measurements, and sounds much like a Hook or a Simmons Pedal Violoncello.

[@Lubbert77]

Please note, remarks below have nothing to do with the firms mentioned as they are fine today. Justin has to be diplomatic and doesn‘t know the instrument before 2012, but to say the Andover/Fisk rebuild respected the instrument is incorrect. Some of the things they did: - rubbed out nicks on languids - changed trebles to open toe voicing - moved pipework around especially small pipes - replaced front pipes with smaller zinc pipes - added pipes that did not match - cut the Dulciana into a 2‘ Flautino - revoiced the reeds The result was pretty much a tonal and visual disaster. A lot of things were done to bring this organ back to life, too many to list. To name a few: -All the voicing was homogenized back to Hutchings/Alley style as far as we could determine - Pipes moved back to where they belonged - No pipes remain from Andover/Fisk - New pipes are appropriate stylistically It is a miracle the organ sounds as good as it does, especially with those damaged languids. It survived indeed.

[@thomaswalters4365]

I wonder who Alley apprenticed to.

[@j_murphy-mancini]

I asked Barbara Owen, who stewarded this instrument for 40 years, and her research says that Alley apprenticed to a chamber organ maker in Kennebunk, ME. I think that's all the info we have.

[@thomaswalters4365]

Cremona seems to have a lot of tin in its tubes.

[@Lubbert77]

No they have been shined up, by me.