Pipe organs have always played an important part in the musical life at St. Ignatius. The Market Street church contained an instrument built by the Hook Brothers of Boston, a major builder of the 19th century. This organ was moved to the new church on Van Ness Avenue when that church opened in 1880, but was replaced in 1896 with an organ built by Farrand & Votey of Detroit, builders of the organ for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The 1896 instrument had four manuals (keyboards) and was the largest instrument on the west coast at the time. The first pipe organ in the present church was originally built in 1910 for College of the Pacific (San Jose). It was acquired by St. Ignatius and was installed in the upper balcony in the 1926. That organ was substantially rebuilt, with many additions, when it was moved to the chancel in 1967. The organ received another rebuild in 1989. Some of the pipes from that organ (1926 / 1967 / 1989) are still in use in the present instrument.
While the pipes (which make the actual sounds) were often well-made, some of the mechanical and electrical systems that connect the pipes to the console the organist plays were less so. It was the unreliability and, in some cases, failure of these systems that necessitated the present rebuild.
Recent advances in digital technology have been applied to organ construction. The 2023 rebuild of the organ has taken advantage of this, resulting in an instrument that is more compact and in some cases, simpler. To cite just one example: the electrical cable that connects the console on the floor of the chancel to the mechanism in the organ chamber. Prior to the rebuild, this cable consisted of hundreds of tiny individual wires, wrapped in a sheath that was five inches in diameter. This has been replaced by a single digital cable barely 1/8” in diameter.
However, the mechanical marvels of the pipe organ always take a back seat to the actual sound in the room. Each organ is custom-designed for the room where it will live and breathe. Getting all of the 3,200+ pipes individually voiced, regulated, and tuned so they will speak properly in the church requires metalworking skills, woodworking skills and, above all, musical ears. We are very fortunate in that the talented artisians of Hupalo & Repasky Organbuilders have all of these skills.
Upon completion, St. Ignatius will once again have a musical instrument worthy of its space – an instrument capable of strong and stirring support for congregational singing when the sanctuary is full, an instrument gentle enough to enhance an intimate wedding Mass in the chancel, and everything in between.
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Save the Date!
Organ Reconstruction Celebration
Sunday, October 8 at 2:30 pm
St. Ignatius Parish is getting a reconstructed organ! Come celebrate its inauguration. Please mark your calendars for Sunday, October 8, and enjoy the celebration, featuring guest artist,
Nicholas Capozzli.