The Pipes of Philadelphia

Travel with us to the City of Brotherly Love. We’ll listen to a diverse group of instruments of various tone and texture, from a little Dieffenbach chamber organ that’s more than 200 years old to the lavish 1931 Skinner organ at Girard College. Our music also covers the gamut, from a Colonial voluntary to a Mexican toccata.

Celebrate two centuries of the art of organbuilding in America, with a sampler of resilient, vintage instruments recorded in and around Philly. My friends in the Organ Historical Society and I invite you to join us for a celebration of The Pipes of Philadelphia.

Listen to the program

Program Broadcast dates:

April 21, 2003

Music played in the program

HYMN: O praise ye the lord –Jonathan Bowen (1932 Bartholomay/St. Vincent de Paul RCC, Philadelphia, PA)

CHARLES ZEUNER: Voluntary –James Darling (1864 anonymous/Goschenhoppen Auditorium, Green Lane, PA)

ERNST PEPPING: Ach wundergrosser Siegesheld –Lois Regestein (1891 Dieffenbach/Frieden’s Union Church, Shartlesville, PA)

G.F. HANDEL: Fugue in C –Phillip Compton (1800 Dieffenbach/Berks County Historical Society, Reading, PA)

RAMÓN NOBLE: Toccatina –Marian Ruhl Metson (1891 King/Hope Presbyterian, Philadelphia, PA)

HORATIO PARKER: Arietta, Opus 68, number 4 –Stephen Schnurr (1897 Haskell/St. Andrew & St. Monica Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA)

FRANK BRIDGE: Allegro Marziale –Rosalind Mohnsen (1884 Roosevelt/Highway Tabernacle Church, Philadelphia, PA)

HYMN: Earth and all stars –Matthew Glandorf (1937 Aeolian-Skinner/St. Mary Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA)

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: Etude –Ken Cowan (1914 Austin/St. Clement Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA)

ERIC THIMAN: Scherzetto –Thomas Brown (1894 Mudler/Our Lady of the Rosary RCC, Philadelphia, PA)

ARTHUR FOOTE: Cantilena in G, Opus 80, number 1 –Wesley Parrott (1895 Jardine/St. John Free Church, Philadelphia, PA)

J.S. BACH: Allegro, from Trio Sonata Number 4 –Lorenz Maycher (1937 Aeolian-Skinner/St. Mary Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA)

DALE WOOD: Morning has broken –Mary Fenwick (1926 Casavant Frères/Immaculate Conception RCC, Camden, NJ)

HORATIO PARKER: Postlude –James Hammann (1904 Haskell/Nativity of the BVM RCC, Philadelphia, PA)

HYMN: Let the whole creation cry –Bruce Stevens (1868 E. & G.G. Hook/St. Joseph University Chapel, Philadelphia, PA)

CRAIG SELLER LANG: Tuba Tune –Todd Wilson (1930 E.M. Skinner/Girard College Chapel, Philadelphia, PA)

JOHANN LUDWIG KREBS: 3 Chorale-preludes: Jesu, meine Freude; Von Gott will ich nicht lassen; Sei Lob und Her dem höchsten Gut –George Bozeman (1869 Knauff/St. Malachy RCC, Philadelphia, PA)

W.A. MOZART: Laudate Dominum –Bruce Stevens (1868 E. & G.G. Hook/St. Joseph University Chapel, Philadelphia, PA)

CESAR CUI: Orientale –Justin Hartz (1930 Aeolian/Longwood Gardens, Dupont Estate, Kennett Square, PA)

HYMN: Lo! he comes with clouds descending –Matthew Glandorf (1913 Haskell/Cathedral of St. Patrick, Philadelphia, PA)

Filler –CÉSAR FRANCK Choral Number 3 –Lorenz Maycher (1937 Aeolian-Skinner/St. Mark Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA)

These and other performances, on a total of 32 different pipe organs, are included in a 4CD album, Historic Organs of Philadelphia which is available from the OHS

The next annual Organ Historical Society National Convention, which is open to the public, takes place between June 19-28, 2003, centered in Harrisburg, with visits to Altoona, Bethlehem, Lancaster, Lebanon, Hershey, and York. Information online at.