THE STORY OF WESTMINSTER CHURCH’S
PIPE ORGAN

Westminster Church is a Presbyterian congregation (PCUSA) organized in 1919, the product of the merger of three earlier Albany churches: Second Presbyterian, Third Presbyterian, and State Street Presbyterian, whose 1861 building the present congregation now occupies. The church has a rich musical tradition dating back at least as far as the 1890s, when the position of Organist at the State Street Church was occupied by Ferdinand Dunckley, one of the founders of the American Guild of Organists. Similarly, the history of Westminster’s pipe organ is both remarkable and unique.

Ernest M. Skinner (1866-1960) is considered by many to be the finest pipe-organ builder America has ever produced. His instruments are highly prized for their tonal beauty and exquisite workmanship. In 1929 Skinner installed his Opus 780, a four-manual instrument of 42 ranks, in Westminster Church after a fire the previous year had destroyed the church’s roof and interior, including its original 1863 Johnson organ. The Skinner organ served Westminster Church until 1976, when it was replaced by an electronic organ, due to the church’s inability at the time to fund some much-needed repairs. Fortunately the Skinner was not lost, but was moved to the nearby residence of church members Dr. Thomas and Anne Older, who preserved the instrument by installing it in their home while keeping it tonally intact. When the church’s electronic instrument began to fail in the late 1990s, the Olders donated the Skinner back to the church, more than 20 years after it had been removed.

In 2000, Westminster Church engaged Austin Organs, Inc., of Hartford, Connecticut to refurbish and re-install the Skinner in its original chancel location, with the work being completed in May of 2003. The Chancel Organ’s 1929 stoplist was largely retained, the most significant alterations being a new 4-rank Mixture and 8’ Trumpet added to the Great. In addition, a 2’ Piccolo replaces a 4’ Unda Maris on the Choir, and a new Solo Cor Anglais and Swell Vox Humana (the latter from the old Echo Organ) were added to the Chancel stoplist. The original console was retained and rebuilt, placed on a moveable platform, and fitted with a computerized multiplex switching system and multi-level combination action.

Visually, the instrument’s most striking feature is its Austin 10-rank Antiphonal division situated in the rear gallery. With its casework designed by the noted British organ architect and author Stephen Bicknell, this division was added to the organ during the 2003 re-installation to help support congregational hymn-singing. The organ now encompasses 52 ranks of pipes distributed over its six divisions. It is tuned and maintained by the L. A. Carlson Company of East Greenbush, NY.

Since its return to the church, Skinner’s Opus 780 has quickly achieved wide recognition throughout the organ world. Shortly after its first dedicatory recital, performed by John Weaver (then organist at Manhattan’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and head of the organ departments at both the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute), the organ was prominently featured during the 2003 Region II Convention of the American Guild of Organists in a recital given by David Hill, then Director of Music at St. John’s College, Cambridge, England. The organ was also showcased by the Organ Historical Society during its 50th Anniversary National Convention in June of 2006. Thomas Murray, Organ Professor at Yale University, performed a recital on the organ during that convention. In describing the event, the international organ journal, The Diapason, praised it as “a great recital on a great organ!” Not long afterwards, WMHT-FM declared the organ’s restoration to be a “Great Moment in Classical Music.” And the AGO journal, The American Organist, has called the instrument “one of the finest extant examples of E. M. Skinner’s work.”

Westminster Church is pleased to share this outstanding and historic pipe organ with the community through its series of concerts (3-4 per year) played by some of the world’s finest organists. We encourage you to return to Westminster Church again and again, to experience and enjoy the majestic beauty of this splendid instrument.

Chancel Organ by E. M. Skinner, Opus 780 (1929)

Reconstruction of Chancel Organ and New Antiphonal Organ by Austin Organs, Inc. (2003)

Four-manual drawknob console

SPECIFICATIONS:
• GREAT
16’ Bourdon (Ped.)
8’ First Diapason
8’ Second Diapason
8’ Harmonic Flute
8’
4’ Octave’
4’ Flute
2 2/3’ Twelfth
2/ Fifteenth
Mixture IV
8’ Trumpet           
Chimes

• CHOIR
16’ Dulciana
8’ Concert Flute
8’ Dulciana
8’ Unda Maris
4’ Flute d’Amore
2’ Piccolo
8’ Corno di Bassetto
Harp
Celesta 
Chimes
Tremulant
  
• ANTIPHONAL
(unenclosed)
8’ Open Diapason
8’ Stopped Diapason
4’ Octave
2’ Super Octave
Mixture IV
8’ Trumpet
16’ Pedal Bourdon

• SWELL
8’ Diapason
8’ Rohrflute
8’ Salicional
8’ Voix Celeste
8’ Flute Celeste II
4. Octave
4’ Flute Triangulaire
Mixture III
16’ Waldhorn
8’ Trumpet
8’ Oboe d’Amore
8’ Vox Humana
4’ Clarion
Star Bells
Tremulant

• SOLO
8’ Harmonic Flute (Gt.)
8’ Cello
8’ Cello Celeste
8’ French Horn
8’ Cor Anglais
8’ Tuba
4’ Flute (Gt.)
Tremulant

• PEDAL
32’ Resultant
16’ Diapason
16’ Contra Bass
16’ Bourdon
16’ Dulciana
8’ Octave
8’ Cello
8’ Gedeckt
8’ Dulciana
16’ Trombone
8’ Trumpet
4’ Clarion

• COUPLERS
Gt-Ped 8’
Sw-Ped 8’
Ch-Ped 8’
Solo-Ped 8’
Ant-Ped 8’
Sw-Ped 4’
Sw-Gt 8’
Ch-Gt 8’
Solo-Gt 8’
Ant-Gt 8’
Sw-Ch 8’
Solo-Ch 8’
Ant-Ch 8’
Gt-Solo 8’
Ant-Solo 8’
Sw-Sw 16’
Sw-Sw 4’
Sw-Gt 16’
Sw-Gt 4’
Ch-Ch 16’
Ch-Ch 4’
Ch-Gt 16’
Ch-Gt 4’
Solo-Solo 16’
Solo-Solo 4’
Solo-Gt 16’
Solo-Gt 4’
Gt-Gt 4

• ACCESSORIES
Walker Technical Systems combination action with 208 levels of memory
Programmable Crescendo and Sforzando (13 levels)
12 general combination pistons (Nos. 1-8 duplicated on toe studs)
8 divisional combination pistons per manual
6 Pedal combination toe studs
Reversible Pedal to Manual combination pistons for each division
Great to Pedal reversible thumb piston and toe lever
All Swells to Swell reversible thumb piston and toe lever
Sforzando reversible thumb piston and toe lever
Star Bells reversible toe stud
Setter button
General Cancel
MIDI IN, MIDI OUT, MIDI THRU ports