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CCC’s grandiose organ getting use it deserves!
Sandy Dickson

 It’s not the typical organ music people are used to hearing; not the kind they used to roller skate to going around a rink in circles or even have ever heard in most churches.

Described as a piece of art, Christ Community Church has a prize within its midst that many people don’t realize is such a jewel right in Zion.  There’s nothing like it around anywhere close. It’s a 92 year-old world class pipe organ that has been 90 percent restored.   

Why does it differ so from other organs?  One of several reasons is the many knobs (200 draw knobs and 100 tilt tabs) that allow the organist to pre-program the sounds ahead of time by pushing the buttons.

     “It’s so much fun to get so many colors out of this wonderful instrument,” says Dan Miller, speaking of the various pedals, buttons and keys.

Each of the four sets of keyboards, arranged one above the other, has 61 keys and each produces a special sound, but the organist can merge them all together to have all those sounds come to one keyboard if he so desires.

Having multiple keys allows a great deal of variety and flexibility, says master organist Dan Miller, who was flown out here for the night of December 17’s organ concert.   

Then there’s the pedal board with its 32 pedals. With this organ, not only does the right hand have to know what the left hand is doing, but the feet have to know the mission of each and the hands too. There’s a lot to keep track of for the organ players, yet they manage to make it look effortless as they capably entice each of the implements via the keys, buttons and pedals to render their rich, melodious and harmonious sounds.

     The evening concert of December 17 is one of several planned throughout the year CCC intends to put on, each featuring an organist who is accomplished in such an exclusive instrument as this pipe organ.

     Dan Miller, who presented this last concert, is a gifted organist who has been a church organist since age 15. Having performed concerts for over 30 years, he is now an internationally known and acclaimed pianist, organist, harpsichordist and keyboardist. Because of his fascination with computers, he is able to bring in prerecorded accompaniment that only enhances his performance. Miller has taught music, conducted choral groups and orchestras and is a respected leader in hand bells.  He holds the distinguished position of Product Manager at Rodgers Instruments LLC, one of the world’s leading organ builders in Hillsboro, Oregon.

    The pipe organ was purchased by Paul Stuck to honor his father’s dying wish that a pipe organ become part of CCC. In 1992, Gerhhart Stuck requested that with the funds he had set aside for such a purchase, Paul find such an appropriate pipe organ and have it installed in CCC.

    Some might say it was coincidence, others claim Divine intervention that Stuck had already found such an organ in Chicago’s Back of the Yards' beautiful St. Augustine’s church of the exact specifications that matched the original tabernacle organ.
    

“When the paper specs of two organs were set side by side, the difference between them was insignificant and we knew then that we had found the organ that should go into CCC because it was a picture of the past that had been heard by many in the old tabernacle,” Stuck said. The appreciation and knowledge of such an instrument seems to have died with the tabernacle fire when the original one burned, but the desire is to revive it since such an organ now exists at CCC again.

     Though the St. Augustine organ, as well as that church itself, was in severe disrepair, Stuck was to find out that at the same time, CCC happened to be looking for a large pipe organ. With the money CCC combined with Stuck’s for the purchase, the glorious Opus 289 pipe organ was acquired. Its pipes and wind chests were built in 1929 specifically for St. Augustine’s Catholic Church and may very well be the last ‘pure’ Welty-Tripp organ in existence. All its usable equipment was cleaned and restored and a new solid-state four manual console added. It has 3,966 pipes!


     “The church stepped forward with additional helping hands, love, labor and
skills in supporting and donating in their traditional giving,” Stuck said.  “It took a lot of work to get the organ out of storage and up and running and no conversation complete without mentioning the labor of love by the many involved.

      Special chambers were installed in the church and under ideal situations, a temperature controlled room is important to keep the integrity of the organ tone, whose components are wood (pine) and metal, fluctuating with temperature changes. 

     “Voliva wanted the largest organ Felgamacher ever made, so the original organ in the old Zion tabernacle was just that,” Paul Stuck said. “Zion has nothing like it left of its past. So having this is a tradition that reaches back all the way to the tabernacle and the great music that was in existence then.”

     To buy such an instrument today would cost in the range of one million and a half dollars. The organ should be restored in as close to it’s original mode as possible as it was in its beginning. We knew it had many features that were similar to the original organ that was in the Zion tabernacle that burned. It was not just an organ, but one that paid homage to the tradition of what great organs are and what Zion tabernacle originally had. It was installed in CCC in 1992 and played for the first time that November.

      Comments made by guests at the recent CCC concert were glowing:
      “Delightful, and there was enough variety in it to make it really interesting. The spice of life is variety and no one was sleeping!”
      “It was great. It’s wonderful to hear music like this and it’s hard to find it.”
      “It’s a very clever and wonderful arrangement of Christmas and it gives us a fresh look. Of what Christmas is. Next time I come, I’ll bring an extra pair of sox, because it will knock one of them off. “
     “It was fabulous. I appreciate the feet moving as they did. It was hard to keep up with them. He was just great.” (This from an organist who played the original wooden organ at the Zion tabernacle.)

     Former builder of organs, who traveled from Rolling Meadows to hear this concert, summed it up by simply saying, “This is an outstanding instrument.”

      Organists from all over the country are calling and asking when they can come and play this marvelous organ. They are excited, so there will be concerts enough for everyone to get the chance to hear. A word of caution to those who say they don’t care for organ music: Don’t prejudge. You will be mightily surprised to hear the variation and exquisite tones this pipe organ has to offer. It’s not to be missed!