Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. — Æolian-Skinner of Boston, Massachusetts was an important American builder of a large number of notable pipe organs

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner

Ernest M. Skinner

Ernest M. Skinner was one of the most successful American organ builders of the early 20th century.-Early years:...

 (1866-1960), Arthur Hudson Marks (1875-1939), Joseph Whiteford, and G. Donald Harrison

G. Donald Harrison

George Donald Harrison crafted some of the finest and largest pipe organs in the United States. He started out in 1914 as a patent attorney but after military service he began to pursue an interest in pipe organ building working with Henry Willis & Sons of London.After immigrating to America,...

 (1889-1956). The company was formed from the merger of the Skinner Organ Company and the pipe organ division of the Æolian Company in 1932.

Harrison period

With the appointment of G. Donald Harrison as President and Tonal Director of Æolian-Skinner in 1933 by Skinner president Arthur Hudson Marks, the company’s tonal philosophy began to turn from the romantic-style orchestral instruments built under the direction of Skinner to a classically eclectic style. Organists began to look to the past to find direction for the future, and in doing so they found that they were in sympathy with the ideas being developed by Harrison. These ideas included the provision of smaller scaled diapasons, along with more higher-pitched and mutation stops in place of large-scaled unison diapasons, color reeds and flutes.

During Harrison’s tenure as president from 1933 until his death in 1956, the tonal design of Æolian-Skinner organs changed a great deal, but retained and perfected many of Ernest Skinner's mechanical innovations. The company used Skinner's Pitman windchest, for example, throughout its existence. Also the high quality and distinctive design details of the Æolian-Skinner console were preserved.

Notable instruments built or rebuilt during the Harrison period include:'

• Boston: Church of the Advent (1935, III/77 )
• Groton (MA): Groton School (1935, III/95)
• San Francisco: Grace Cathedral Opus 910 (1933, IV/125)
• New York: Church of St. Mary the Virgin (1942, IV/76)
• Salt Lake City: Mormon Tabernacle (1948, V/204)
• Boston: Symphony Hall
  Symphony Hall, Boston
  Symphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home. The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999...
  
   (1950, IV/80)
• Jacksonville (IL): MacMurray College Annie Merner Chapel (1952 Opus 1150, IV/59) - G. Donald Harrison “signature” organ
• New York: Cathedral of St. John the Divine (1954, IV/141)
• Sage Chapel
  Sage Chapel
  Sage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State and serves as the final resting place of the university's founders, Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, and their wives...
  
  , Cornell University
  Cornell University
  Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
  
  , Ithaca, NY (1940, III/69)

Whiteford period

After Harrison’s death in June 1956, former Vice President Joseph S. Whiteford was appointed President. Whiteford joined the company in 1948 and had distinguished himself through research in the field of musical acoustics

Acoustics

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...

 as it relates to church music. Under his direction, Æolian-Skinner built pipe organs for five of the foremost symphony orchestras in America. His love for vocal music led him to emphasize the role of the organ in accompanying singing. He had a charismatic personality that was well suited to the prestige of the Æolian-Skinner name. In fact, his personal involvement secured many major contracts that were directly commissioned without competing bids.

Notable instruments from the Whiteford period include:

• Detroit: Ford Auditorium (1957, III/71) Currently dismantled. The theater will be demolished. The organ will be installed in St. Aloysius Catholic Church in downtown Detroit.
• Westminster Maryland: Baker Memorial Chapel (1958)
• Independence: RLDS Auditorium (1959, IV/113)
• Honolulu: St. Andrew’s Cathedral (1960, IV/72)
• Atlanta: Cathedral of St. Philip (1962, IV/98)
• New York: Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center (1963, IV/98)

After the retirement of Whiteford in 1965, John J. Tyrell, Donald M. Gillett, Robert L. Sipe and Phil Steinhaus served as President until the company ceased operations in 1972.

Aeolian-Skinner Records

Beginning In 1954, Aeolian-Skinner produced a series of ten LP records titled, "The King of Instruments". These ten LP's are devoted to the tone and history of the modern organ. Volume 1-"The American Classic Organ" contains a descriptive discussion written over both sides of the LP cover by Tyler Turner and Joseph Whiteford on the beginnings of "The American Classic Organ". The five recorded sections on the record, with G. Donald Harrison being the narrator, himself describing the five selections-being of: I-Principles, II-Flutes, III-Strings, IV-Reeds, and V-Mixtures and Mutations. Organ demonstrations comes from the Aeolian-Skinner of St. John the Divine.

• Volume 1: "The American Classic Organ"
• Volume 2: "Organ Literature-Bach to Langlais"
• Volume 3: "Organ Recital" - Robert Owen, Christ Church; Bronxville, New York.
• Volume 4: Edgar Hilliar at St. Mark's; Mount Kisco, New York
• Volume 5: "Music of Richard Purvis" - Grace Cathedral; San Francisco, California
• Volume 6: "The Cathedral of St. John the Divine" Alec Wyton-Organist
• Volume 7 "Marilyn Mason in Recital" St. John's Chapel; Groton, Massachusetts
• Volume 8: "Norman Coke-Jephcott at St. John the Divine
• Volume 9: "The Mother Church; Boston, Massachusetts"
• Volume 10: "Music of the Church" - Organ and choir recital at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Kilgore, Texas

• AS 306: Ruth Phelps at the Mother Church; Boston, Massachusetts
• AS 322: Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé at Christ Church Cathedral; St. Louis, Missouri
• AS 326: Alexander Boggs Ryan at the Cathedral of Christ the King; Kalamzoo, Michigan
• ASC 502: Catherine Crozier at the RLDS Auditorium, Independence MO (No. 1309, 1959) - Program I (Reubke, Langlais, Roger-Ducasse, Alain) (Ampex reel-to-reel tape)
• ASC 503: Catherine Crozier at the RLDS (Community of Christ) Auditorium; Independence Missouri (Ampex reel-to-reel tape)

External links

• JOURNEYS; Old Pipes, Heavenly View: A Search for Musical Bliss
• Æolian-Skinner history, timeline, and opus lists.
• The Riverside Church, Nave Organ.
• The World's Largest Pipe Organs See nr 11.