St. Boniface Episcopal Church Sarasota, Florida US
Organ Specification

In the Autumn of 1997, the church’s musicians, Dr Robert Reeves and Seth Wertz engaged Jeff Weiler to revoice all the fluework and regulate the reeds of the Boniface organ. Mr Weiler invited Jonathan Ambrosino to collaborate in the endeavour. Foremost was a desire for a stronger, more melodically oriented ensemble (both in the Treble and Bass) with clearer, brighter principal choruses and increased definition throughout. What began as a corrective process of tonal correction - without the benefit of replacement or re-scaling of pipes - gradually revealed itself as a more significant musical opportunity.

Though un-encased, the organ within this unusual hexagonal shaped church is ideally sited in a wide, shallow loft whose angled side walls and an upwardly sloping ceiling lends excellent projection of tone into the reverberant church. In such an environment, it was possible to revoice the principal choruses in a strong, classical manner, in which the pipes of any given pitch are voiced at much the same power. Flutes and Strings were similarly emboldened, yielding more interesting timbres and greater melodic intensity. Merely re-regulated, the fine gallic sounding chorus reeds remained much as before. The chamade Trumpet was left virtually untouched as an heroic solo reed, and as a testament to the abilities and ideals of Möller’s renowned reed voicer Adolf Zajic.

Part of the challenge in the revoicing came in attempting to provide ways around some of the unusual gaps in the specification. While luxuriously equipped with a chamade reed, two 32’ stops and three sets of Celestes, more basic registers (Grand 2½’ and 2’, Hautbois, Flûte harmonique) were lacking. A carefully balanced tonal structure, both within stops and between divisions was the first step in addressing musical demands. Other refinements, particularly in the re-balancing of the colour reeds and the 4’ Flutes, allowed for example, the Hautbois tone to be simulated through unusual combinations. Finally, two minor tonal changes overcame what voicing alone could not: recomposing the Grand Mixture one half octave lower for better cohesion; and deriving an Octave Tierce out of the former Carillon Mixture, to give a truer sesquialtera voice(played an octave lower) than either of the alternative Cornet registrations.

Ultimately, revoicing led to the organ consuming more than twice the original amount of wind. The static pressure was therefore raised and now the full ensemble taxes and excites the wind supply in a gently flexing manner. No effort was made to eliminate this welcome, vocal dynamic in the final Tutti.

Creating a fine church organ was the centrepiece of the revoicing project with the additional hope that its balances and timbres might lend itself to a good cross-section of organ music, particularly the French symphonic repertoire. The result is an eclectic American organ with a French accent - essentially the style of instrument for which Marcel Dupré conceived most of his concert music - justified, we hope, by its choice for these recordings.  Jeff Weiler & Jonathan Ambrosino