Tuba Tune at Grace Cathedral

Here is the Tuba Tune by Normon Cocker on the Aeolian Skinner organ in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. The Solo 8' Tuba Mirablis, as well as the crowning 8' Tuba Major, sing in this piece.

The Aeolian Skinner organ is in the process of being renovated. This work includes replacing worn leather components of the playing mechanism, overhauling the wind system and replacing missing pipes.

The project includes replacing several sets of pipes installed after 1952 that are out of character (1972 Casavant additions) with the original instrument. We would also like to install sets of pipes originally planned for, but never executed.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Aeolian
• Skinner
• Organ
• Grace
• Cathedral
• Tuba
• Tune
• Normon
• Cocker

[passacaglia28]

Quick question. Do you have any idea why the Washington National Cathedral plans to have it's magnificent Skinner dismantled and replaced? I have heard it once and I was very impressed. I hope it is not replaced by a digital model. That would be blasphemous in my humble opinion.

[bombarde1701a]

@passacaglia28 Yes...because the Skinner has been "altered" over the years by a variety of sources, and it can hardly be called a Skinner or an Aeolian Skinner. Other then a few stops, most of it has been changed. On the other hand, it doesnt fill the nave (for the congregation) and if you are sitting in the back of the Cathedral, the organ gets lost.

[bombarde1701a]

@bombarde1701a I love the organ the way it is, and I simply think they should rebuild it and add more pipes or digital stops either in the transepts or in the galleries. Casavant was chosen to build a French style tracker organ in the gallery and Dobson was chosen to replace the Skinner in the great choir. According to them, they are planning on saving the best stuff from the present organ, but thats relative.

[bombarde1701a]

@bombarde1701a From what they said, they are planning on keeping the original cases and facade

[mpsnknox]

Anyone have a clue what the additions will be?

[bombarde1701a]

@mpsnknox from what I know there wont be any additions other then replacing dead notes etc.

[EccentricRichard]

@cnmmnc8852 - it won't be going to hell by intent with Lawrence Thain now the Assistant there - he's one of the best young players there is. I should know - my mum taught him from basics to FRCO!

[mrstevebournias]

Skinner sold the Grace Cath job but the contract demanded Harrison to design and install it much to Skinner's dismay.As for John the Divine the present Tuba major is the 1910 Skinner with a new metal bass added in the 1950s and the Tuba Clarion 4 is an aeolian-skinner addition in the 1950's work.

[Peronter77]

great job

[mrstevecbournias]

wnc organ will be thrown out and parted out by the new builder; a travesty the worst in teh history of usa organ building; ignorant authorities sold a bill of goods by a former organist long gone and bannished from wnc; and a so-called ''organ expert'' that nobody knows where he recd jhis expertise other than the gift of gab; the schoenstein tuba at grace in frisco is good but cant hold a candle to any uk cathedral tuba magnas....sorry mr broome or mr schopp

[mrstevecbournias]

donald harriosn included a hi pressure diapason chorus in the solo prepared for all the way thru fourniture all on 10'' wind; the 32 bombarde is one of the best ever to come out of skinner's;sounds metal not wood

[mrstevecbournias]

no mention of fenstermakers plans for a string and celestial section on the rebuilt 5m ruffatti console

[mrstevecbournias]

@steelersfanhawaii

Em Skinner sold the Grace job and Donald Hsrrison designed and oversaw its completion in 1934.

[mrstevecbournias]

@bombarde1701a

Your knowledge of the organ at WNC is incorrect. A single man voiced the pipes and he is the former HEAD voicer at Aeolian-Skinner.

[lek844]

The best part of this video is at the end. I used to play this instrument quite often, and the reverberation always raised the hairs on the back of my neck. This is the only recording I've heard at Grace which captures the effect (almost).

[6740]

Give me an English organ any day. This organ sounds blurred as if not suitable for the building.

[jimamia77]

San Francisco? Thank god for youtube. I passed by this Cathedral and wanted to get inside but parking was a problem. I had to begin heading back to the airport. Thanks for posting this virtual tour complete with organ. I promise to stop in on my next trip out there.

[trompettechamade1]

@bombarde1701a I am not opposed to an antiphonal organ in the West gallery (I proposed it to D. Major over a decade ago), bu I am inalterably opposed to stripping the Old Lady in the choir. I am more in favor of a another form of R&R - a repair & retoration back to the Skinner orchestral organ while keeping the Harrison's good additions such as the Chamade, Chouer des Violes, etc. That would give us a superb organ sound throughout the entire Cathedral.

[cnmmnc8852]

@cgabis04 Yeah, I don't hear anything like the sound in person, on this recording. The "new-age" politico-clerical administration at the Cathedral have a predilection for tearing down 'things that work', replacing them, then bemoaning the negative response once the novelty has worn off. Richard Purvis wrote about this. It is designed not to work.

[cgabis04]

@cnmmnc8852 I actually have this recording (if it's the one I think it is: Susan Jane Matthews, Chosen Tunes, Gothic Records) and it sounds 100% better than this video. I don't know what the deal is, but I was impressed by this organ's clarity in that CD.

[cnmmnc8852]

This is another instrument that sounds much better in person than recorded. Very muddy. Truth be known, the place needs a colorist like Richard Purvis in place there, but the Cathedral/church in general was intended/meant to be in a state of decline in the People's Republic of San Francisco. It went to hell by intent.

[2Dawgz]

@samc726 The don't mention that during installation the bombarde case fell to the choir pavement and had to undergo substantial repairs...

[2Dawgz]

@sconealful The new tuba is raucous and doesn't have the richness of the other reeds in the Aeolian Skinner. The old Bombarde division sounded much better.  The cathedral should ask for its money back on the tuba and rev up the Bombarde division. Putnam and his successor did a lot of damage to the music program at the cathedral which is only starting to be undone.

[sconealful]

the Tuba at Grace was installed while Christopher Putnam was the director of music...sometime in about 2001. on Sept. 30, 2001, i was invited to play the post-evensong recital which was the first recital to feature this new Tuba. the program included "Fanfare" by John Cook, "Lyric Rhapsody" by Searle Wright, and "Comes Autumn Time" by Leo Sowerby. that was a fun recital.

[samc726]

The Bombarde Division at Grace Cathedral is being sold on the Organ Clearing House website. Casavant built the case in 1973. The asking price is $60,000. The Stoplist Follows: Name: Pipes: 8' Montre 61 4' Octave 61 2' Doublette 61 V Cornet (TC) 245 VII Mixture 427 16' Bombarde 61 8' Trompette 61 4' Clarion 61

[TrompetteHarmonique]

@livzdave Well, if we're talking about non unison stops then that would certainly count. as well.

[livzdave]

@TrompetteHarmonique What about the 4' Tuba Clarion in the Solo with double treble? The 4' Tuba Clarion is a separate stop, not an extension of the 8' Tuba Major, and it has been around since the original 1910 Skinner Op. 150 instrument. I just double checked Doug Hunt's specification to make sure.

[TrompetteHarmonique]

@livzdave No it doesnt. St. John the Divine only has one tuba, the 8' Tuba Major in the solo. Perhaps you mean he used the Bombarde 8' Trompette Harmonique and the 8' State Trumpet. I do wish that organ had another tuba as well, though.

[Weezot97]

How about some credit for the performer???

"And now the organ will play..."