Out with the Old, in with the New

January 9, 2008

The 1952 Möller Artiste pipe organ has produced its last timeless sounds for worship services at Duke Divinity School after being decommissioned in December to make way for a new, larger organ being built specifically for Goodson Chapel.

European and American craftsmen with Richards, Fowkes & Co. of Ooltewah, Tenn., are putting the final touches on the new organ, which is expected to arrive at the chapel in February and be ready for use by the start of the 2008 fall semester.

The 30-foot-high organ (including 6 feet of intricate wooden carvings) contains 1,837 pipes and is of Gothic and Neo-Gothic design. The facade pipes for the $800,000 organ will be visible, whereas all of the Möller organ’s 200 pipes were concealed in a case.

“Goodson Chapel was originally envisioned to include a grand pipe organ,” says Susan Pendleton Jones, who oversaw the $22 million addition to the Divinity School that includes Goodson Chapel. “The majestic, new Richards, Fowkes pipe organ will significantly enhance the beauty of Goodson Chapel and the worship of the Divinity School community.”

“It replaces the Möller organ, which served our community well for 53 years in York Chapel and for the last two years in Goodson Chapel,” says Jones. “Duke students, faculty and staff for generations to come will offer musical praise to God in this magnificent space thanks to the generosity of a major gift by Duke alumni Aubrey and Katie McClendon.”

John Santoianni, Ethel Sieck Carrabina Curator of organs and harpsichords at Duke University, and David Arcus, associate university and chapel organist, disassembled the Möller organ over three days in December.

After removing the cover from the walnut veneer cabinet of the organ, the pair broke down the instrument piece by piece and carefully packed it for transport by truck to Grace Episcopal Church in Orange Park, Fla. They wrapped the organ’s zinc and lead/tin alloy pipes in a protective covering and placed them in special cases called pipe trays. Smaller parts were put into plastic bags and labeled for easy reassembling by Santoianni, who traveled to the church to reassemble the organ.

Disassembling the Möller was an encore performance for Santoianni and Arcus who, with a cadre of volunteers, did the same job in 2005 so it could be moved from York Chapel to the gallery of the newly-built Goodson Chapel.

“The new organ is being specifically built to complement and enhance this particular worship space,” says Arcus. “The design takes into account numerous factors such as cubic volume, acoustical patterns, seating capacity and the kind of gatherings that will take place. The organ also will have a greater dynamic range and fuller depth, as well as provide a sense of visual awe with its external beauty that’s reflective of God’s creation through the elements of metal and wood.”

In addition, the new organ will enhance the musical offerings at Goodson Chapel by more effectively accompanying music offered by choirs in worship services, allowing the school to host new types of events in the coming year such as hymn festivals and recitals, and encouraging divinity students to consider organ studies.

“We’re excited about the enhanced musical opportunities at the chapel that the new organ will bring,” says Arcus. “Coming to the chapel to hear live music offered to God is so satisfying to the soul.”

See photos of the new organ being constructed and what it will look like installed in Goodson Chapel.