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| 1906 Woodbury organ at St. Pat's |
Music has
always been at the core of Catholic worship.
Hey, even the Bible tells us “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” That joyful noise is often associated with
the organ. In the 1830s Bishop Fenwick
of Boston wrote in his diary that 2/3 of Catholic churches had little or no
singing, just the sound of the organ. He
even complained that one immigrant church in Lowell (guess who) had what he
considered “bad” singing. (One historian actually says it was not the Irish
immigrants’ fault since they had been forbidden to openly worship in their
homeland, and thus never had much practice in communal singing.) To help the situation, the Bishop, an amateur
singer and musician himself, wrote a book of songs with lyrics to be used in
the Diocese of Boston. (We weren’t big
enough to be an Archdiocese yet.) Our
parish archives actually hold an original 1830s copy of Fenwick’s work.
At St.
Patrick’s we know that the original wooden church of 1831 had an organ. It was
a second hand organ purchased from a Protestant church and was made by local
musician Ebenezer Goodrich. In his
year’s accounting of church expenses in 1840, Father James McDermott paid the
church organist $40 for his services. Fr.
McDermott bought another organ in 1847 for the cost of $1400. That one was made by George Stevens. It had 22 registers (or stops) which refers
to the pipes that produce the notes.
Ever hear of “pulling out all the stops?” There you go.
It means to give it all you’ve got.
When the
present church was opened, a grand building such as it is, it needed a grander
organ. The E. & G. G. Hook organ installed
in 1859 cost $3000, quite a sum for the time, and had 33 stops. There is a possibility this organ was powered
by water to pump the bellows. The organ
was in place right up to the fire in 1904 when it was destroyed. Some pipes were salvaged and put into a
Chelmsford church. The organist at the
time, Professor Johnson, actually entered the church during the fire to save
some church music.
When the
church was rededicated in 1906, the organ that was installed was considered one
of the finest in New England, with no exaggeration. It is called a divided organ with the pipes
being separated on each side to make a clear view of the grand stained glass
window of St. Patrick preaching to the Chieftains at Tara. A February 1904 entry in the Lowell Sun
described its installation. The Jesse
Woodbury Company of Boston designed the organ to fit exactly in this
space. The organ is of 4 parts; the
choir organ with 11 stops, the pedal with 10 stops, the great with 11, and the
swell with 15. A special addition was a
sanctuary organ that was installed that was connected to the grand organ in the
choir loft. Viewing from the floor, the
organ’s pipes reach almost to the ceiling.
What most people don’t recognize is that the grand round, gold-painted
pipes they see are fake. The sound
actually comes from the pipes behind those.
Taste in music has
changed greatly over the decades. Many
of my generation recall organist Charlie McGrail blasting out Holy God We
Praise Thy Name. As soon as the priest
intoned “Ite missa est.” (Go the Mass is ended) and the congregation responded,
“Deo gratias.” (Thanks be to God.), Mr.
McGrail would blast the life out of the organ with a grand recessional. You could feel the vibrations of deep tones
hitting you as you left church. Today,
the organ is not in condition to be played, but not for long. Father Crahen continues with his undaunting
efforts to restore the church to its original beauty. Now that the interior painting, mural
restoration, window re-leading, and other repairs have been completed or in
stages thereof, the organ is the next task.
The pipes are filled with dust and debris. Each of the dozens of pipes is labeled with
its particular note and needs to be removed and cleaned and then artfully
replaced. The massive bellows, which
pump air into the pipes, have dried out and need to be replaced.
Many were
filled with emotion at the school’s recent reunion when they saw Fr. Charles
McGrail, former organist, now priest, celebrating Mass. Fr. McGrail spent many years at the keyboard
leading the different choirs through the annual cycle of music of the
church. Many wished they could hear the
grand organ once again. Father Crahen
has contacted many professional restorers who have given their assessments of
what has to be done. They all tell the
same story. It desperately needs work. But they also all tell another story. The Woodberry organ at St. Pat’s is a true
treasure. There are few left of this
quality left and needs to be revived and played once again to the glory of God.
Please
contact Father Crahen at St. Patrick rectory if you are interested in the
project. To the right of our blogspot
you will see a list of YouTube videos.
There are a couple of the organ being played in former daays.
