The builder of the University’s new organ, Juergen
Ahrend, and his wife, Greta, make delicate ad
justments while assembling the instrument in the
School of Music.
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Thousands of parts
go into new organ
If you have never seen a large organ before it’s assembled—the
sight is awesome!
Hundreds of pipes of all sizes fill a big room in the School of Music
at the University. The 500-seat Recital Hall of the building is a jumble
of framework and the furniture that makes up the exposed sections of
the great instrument. In the basement, the blower and bellows and
wind tunnels are being installed.
These are all parts of the University’s new Ahrend organ that has
been financed through a bequest from the late Robert Beall of Central
Point, who died in 1961.
The will provided that his estate, then amounting to $162,000,
would go in entirety to the University, with the stipulation that the
money be used for the erection and maintenance of a memorial
dedicated to the pioneer women of Oregon. The gift was in memory of
his mother “who was herself one of the pioneers.”
The University Development Fund was appointed as trustee and
charged with determining a memorial. Their decision was that the
organ would best carry out the concept of the will, for as was pointed
out “it was unquestionably the women who preserved, appreciated,
and carried the culture of the East across the plains to Oregon and the
American West—Music was almost exlusively limited to women, and
the parlor piano or organ was a symbol of home and motherhood.”
Order placed
Early in 1968 in order was placed with the German organ
manufacturing firm of Ahrend and Brunzema. This is a small firm, “a
six-man operation,” but it is recognized as one of Europe’s two great
organ builders.
Ahrend and Brunzema had a long waiting list for building organs
and for the restoration of old organs. The firm divides its time between
these two activities. So it was that, while purchases of materials wer^
made, the actual work on the organ did not start until late in 1971. Bl
that time, the actual work on the organ did not start until late in 1971.
By that time, the partnership had been dissolved so that it was
Juergen Ahrend and his craftsmen who built the University’s new
organ.
The entire output of the shop for almost ten months was involved
in the building of the University’s organ. Finally it was assembled this
summer.
John Hamilton, professor of organ in the University School of
Music, spent the summer in Germany and had opportunities to play on
the instrument before it was dismantled and shipped, by air, to
Eugene.
Two shipments were made. Parts of a smaller scale were shipped
to Seattle and then trucked to Eugene. Larger parts were shipped to
Los Angeles and trucked north.
Hamilton believed it may be the first time that a large organ has
been shipped by air.
Now that the assemblage of parts is at the University, the builder,
Ahrend, and an assistant,Hermann Schmidt, have also arrived on the
campus to make the installation. Ahrend has accompanied them to
give additional assistance.
One month for completion
They estimate that it will take approximately one month to
complete their work. It is a complicated task. While most unassem
bled organs come with all parts marked for installation, there are no
markings on the Ahrend-made parts. The two men know the materials
intimately and proceed confidently with the intricate assemblage.
Most of the exposed wood in the organ is of oak, with the frame
work in back of and enclosing the keyboard fashioned of Asian
palisander. The black keys are from ancient North German oak, dug
up from peat bogs where it had seasoned for 1,000 years. Other parts of
the organ are of Oregon pine and fir. Western red cedar and Po^
Orford cedar. ^
The 2,500 pipes, all hand-cast, are 95 per cent pure tin with lead
used as the alloy. The finished pipes are burnished with steel wool. A
unique feature of the organ is that part of the pipes are covered at the
top These pipes. Hamilton said, will never have to be tuned, and in
fact they cannot be tuned. This is, in Hamilton’s words, “a virtuoso
feat.”
The action of the organ is all mechanical, with only the blower
operated by electricity.
When completed the organ will be 21 feet in height and will occupy
the entire back stage of the School’s Recital Hall. The exposed organ
will include the central structure with the keyboard and two free
standing pieces of furniture on either side. These pieces will house the
tracker action (mechanical) for the pedal pipes. Only 101 of the many
pipes will be exposed.
The builder. Ahrend, has played the organ since he was a child. He
is also a virtuoso recorder player. When a student in Gottingen, he
became interested in building organs. He became an apprentice of a
builder in Gottingen and worked with the builder for seven years
before he established his own shop He has become noted as a leading
builder of organs modeled on the great organs of the 17th, 18th and 19th
centuries.
His shop is in Leer, in the area of Ostfriesland on the border of
Holland
Five in U.S.
There are in the United States. Hamilton said, only five other
Ahrend organs. All of these are on the West Coast and all are small
organs.
Hamilton, who is a well-known concert organist, is enthusiastic
about the new instrument, which he says will undoubtedly be one of the
great concert organs in the nation There is, he commented, “literally
no other organ of this quality in North America . "
The Recital Hall of the Music School has been remodeled to make
it acoustically right for the new instrument.
The original bequest, invested, now totals around $230,000. This
will cover the cost of the organ, approximately $133,000, and the
remodeling of the Recital Hall
Hamilton said the organ, which will be completed by the end of
September, will be used for student recitals, both graduate anu un
dergraduate. for guest concerts, and with orchestra and symphonic
band concerts