Diocese of Rupert's Land • Anglican Church of Canada
Serving God
and the community
since 1889
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The Organ
History
Photos
Specifications
The original St. Luke’s Church had an organ installed in 1898. When the new building opened in 1905, another organ was installed at that time. As the organ was hand-blown, it was necessary to have someone paid to provide wind whenever the organ was used whether for practice or service. This, of course, made it very difficult for an organist to practice, particularly if the mood struck.
In November, 1910, the renowned firm of Casavant Frères, St. Hyacinthe, Quebec installed a new organ in the newly-added Chancel of the church. The entire cost of the instrument was raised by the ladies in the Organ Guild. Opus 424 consisted of three manuals and 30 stops.
An echo organ by Casavant Frères was given to the church and installed in 1912. The several ranks of pipes were arranged in an opening created by the removal of the west window on the second floor of the newly-completed tower. The organ now consisted of three manuals and 36 stops.
Both organs were controlled from the console installed in the north (Cantoris) side of the quire in the chancel.
When a long time and influential parishioner, Mr. W.H. Gardiner, died in 1951, monies were left to the church to renew the organ, a bequest fully in keeping with his interest in music and liturgy. A new organ and organ façades were designed by Dr. Herbert White, the Organist at the time, who was an architect.
In a booklet published for the dedication of the new organ in 1953, it says that the new design was to provide "an instrument capable of three functions: (1) adequately to accompany the liturgical services; (2) to be adequate for the whole range of organ music from the early seventeenth century, through the Romantic School, to the present day; (3) to suit the acoustics and the difficulties peculiar to our own building ... In appearance, the Churchwardens and Vestry felt that the organ should form a visible memorial to its benefactor and should be in keeping with the English Gothic architecture of our church."
The array of pipes in the façade which used to be on the north side of the nave beside the pulpit was removed, and the new organ cases installed. The new console was placed across the aisle from the former location to the south (Decani) side of the quire. It was originally oriented so that the Organist faced across the quire rather than face the chancel screen as he does now.
The organ was reconstructed and a new console built by the renowned British firm Wm. Hill & Son and Norman & Beard Ltd., incorporating mechanicals and pipework from the 1910 Casavant organ. The new organ had approximately 4,000 pipes, 120 miles of electrical cabling, 8,000 electrical contacts and two electric blowers. The new console was now four manuals and the specifications had grown to 61 stops.
In 1979, R. Buck and B. Mantle of Winnipeg made revisions to the tonal structure and specifications of the organ. Still four manuals, but now, 59 stops.
In 2001, a solid state logic capture action replaced the rather temperamental mechanical capture action with 25 channels of memory and an increased number of console controls.
With the last revisions, the console remains at four manuals but now controls 66 ranks of pipes. There are seven ranks prepared for which will, when installed, bring the pipe count up to 73 ranks.
The console - closed
The console - open
The keydesk
Stop Jamb - Left
Stop Jamb - Right
Organ façade - Chancel
Organ façade - West (Tower)
Swell (Manual 2) Encl
Geigen Diapason 8
Hohlflote 8
Viola da Gamba 8
Gamba Celeste 8
Geigen Octave 4
Waldflote 4
Super Octave 2
Mixture III
Oboe † 16
Double Trumpet 16
Trumpet † 8
Orchestral Oboe 8
Oboe 8
Clarion 4
Tremulant
Swell Sub
Swell Super
MIDI †
Great (Manual 3) Unencl
Quintaten 16
Open Diapason I 8
Open Diapason II 8
Doppelflote 8
Principal 4
Twelfth 2 2/3
Fifteenth 2
Mixture III
Harmonic Trumpet 8
MIDI †
Great Unison Off
Great Super
Choir (Manual 4) Unencl
Diapason Cantabile 8
Chimney Flute 8
Gedeckt 4
Nazard 2 2/3
Blockflote 2
Tierce 1 3/5
Sifflote † 1
Cymbale III
Trumpet 16
Clarinet 8
Oboe (Sw) † 8
Trumpet 8
Trumpet 4
MIDI †
Tremulant
Thumb Pistons
8 to Gen. (Dup. Toe Studs)
4 to Solo
4 to Antiphonal
8 to Swell
8 to Great
8 to Choir
8 to Pedal (Dup. Toe Studs)
2 to Ant./Solo Pedal
Adjust
General Cancel
Div. Cancel - each manual
Reversible Thumb Pistons
Pedal Trombone 16
Pedal Open Wood 16
Swell Oboe
Swell Tremulant
Choir Tremulant
Sforzando I
Sforzando II
Gt to Pedal(Dup. Toe Stud)
Choir to Pedal
Solo to Pedal
Resultant 32(Dup. Toe Stud)
Quint 10 2/3(Dup. Toe Stud)
Pedal
Resultant Bass 32
Quint 10 2/3
Open Wood Bass 16
Sub Bass 16
Quintaten 16
Bass Flute 8
Octave 8
Choral Bass 4
Quartane II
Trombone 16
Oboe (Sw) † 16
Trumpet 8
Oboe (Sw) † 8
West Organ
Solo (Manual 1) Encl
Flute Ouverte 8
Viole de Gambe 8
Unda Maris 8
Principal 4
Mixture III
Trumpet (Ch) 16
Cornopean 8
Cor Anglais † 8
Trumpet (Ch) 8
Trumpet (Ch) 4
Marimba Harp (25-61)
MIDI †
Tremulant
Antiphonal (Fl.) Unencl
Viola 16
Dulciana † 8
Open Diapason 8
Octave 4
Quinte 2 2/3
Super Octave 2
Ant./Solo Pedal
Contra Viola 16
Bourdon 16
Viola 8
Gedeckt 8
MIDI †
† Prepared for
Couplers
Pedal
Couple Pistons Sw & Pd
Ant. to Pedal 8,4
Solo to Pedal 8,4
Swell to Pedal 8,4
Great to Pedal 8,4
Choir to Pedal 8
Solo
Ant. to Solo 8,4
Swell
Solo to Swell 16,8,4
Great
Ant. to Great 8,4
Solo to Great 16,8,4
Swell to Great 16,8,4
Choir to Great 8
Choir
Ant. to Choir 8,4
Solo to Choir 16,8,4
Swell to Choir 16,8,4
Great to Choir 8,4
Summary
86 Drawknobs
66 Thumb Pistons
19 Toe Studs
Solo Expression Pedal
Swell Expression Pedal
Balance Cresc. Pedal
(4 settings)
25 Channels of Memory
Transposer
Memory key lock
The Parish Church of St. Luke
130 Nassau Street North
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3L 2H1
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of The Parish Church of St. Luke