PORT TOWNSEND — A pipe organ capable of making music the way it was heard during the 17th-century Baroque period will be played for the first time publicly today.
“These are the same sounds that you would have heard from an organ in [Johann Sebastian] Bach’s time,” said Stanley Goddard, who supervised the four-year construction project of the organ in the Trinity United Methodist Church at 609 Taylor St., Port Townsend.
“But it is a lot easier to play because there is a computer inside that controls the sound and wind cabinets instead of strong young studs pumping in air with bellows,” Goddard added.
The organ will have its debut performance and be dedicated during today’s 10 a.m. worship service.
The organ is a modern emulation of an instrument built by Bach’s drinking buddy and musical cohort, Gottfried Silbermann, said Goddard.
Aside from the computer and the wind cabinets, Goddard’s construction differs radically from Silbermann’s original design.
The most glaring difference is the use of electricity to drive the organ, which makes it easier to operate but dependent on available power.
Another is the physical layout.
Goddard’s organ is controlled by a console adjacent to a large cabinet organ built in Philadelphia and a grand piano, while the 2,000 pipes from which the sound originates are in a loft above the sanctuary.
Silbermann’s original organ had two tall cabinets housing the pipes that were far harder to repair and replace than the 21st-century version.
The sound, controlled by switches, is authentic, but the underlying “whoosh” from the nine wind cabinets is noticeable below the music.
This will change, according to Goddard, as the large PVC tube pushing the air through the pipes will be sealed when the air tubes are sealed.
Goddard, 81, is a retired mechanical engineer who moved to Port Townsend in 1996 after working in both the private and public sectors.
He is not a musician and can barely squeak out notes from the organ’s double keyboard, but his knowledge of the organ and its history is unmatched, from the hymns that are most appropriate — taken from drinking songs familiar to the “unwashed masses the church wanted to recruit” — to the personal involvement by Bach, who would fine-tune every pipe and its timbre.
Goddard declined to disclose how much was spent in the construction of the organ. All funds were private donations, he said.
He hopes that it will provide the foundation of a rich music program for the church, which will include the musical interplay of the two pipe organs and the grand piano.
With all this happening simultaneously, only 200 people will be able to share the experience firsthand, but at least the organ performance can be preserved for posterity, Goddard said.
Goddard’s new machine includes a memory system that records both the notes played and the keystroke dynamics, so any performance can be replayed exactly.
The pipe banks, which are combinations of metal and wood, were bought from a variety of sources that Goddard found on the Internet.
While their position in the loft makes them easier to repair, refine and replace than if they were in a tall cabinet, some of them had to be bent to fit in the loft space.
The result is that while the pipes have an artful appearance from the sanctuary below, the loft looks a little like a submarine’s engine room would if it used metal pipes instead of musical rods.
This delicate balance is due for an upset in the spring, when each pipe will be disassembled and taken outside for a thorough, individual cleaning.
This will be a group effort by the entire congregation and will end up as “an orgy of pipe baths,” Goddard said.
After the cleaning, those listening to the organ “will be able to hear all the sharp edges,” subtleties that are lost to Goddard’s own unsophisticated ears.
Once the cleaning is completed, the sound will satisfy even the perfectionists.
“This is like ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ because it’s got to be just right,” he said.
“Otherwise, it ain’t any good.”
For more information, phone 360-385-0484.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
