Fayette Opera House - Mason & Hamlin Reed Organ

This piece is "Now Thank We All Our God" ("Nun danket alle Gott"), by Martin Rinckart in 1630, arranged by J.S. Bach, and arranged for organ by Virgil Fox. It is played on the magnificent 3 manual + pedal Mason & Hamlin reed organ, one of the most significant reed organs ever made by M&H. This particular reed organ was stored in a carriage house in the Toledo Old West End for thirty or forty years, where it had been seriously stripped of many of its parts, and it was necessary to make many new ones.

Don Glasgow took on this monumental task and restored this instrument, where it took two years just to make it playable. It was donated to the Fayette Opera House in the year 2000, and it took six men to carry it up the stairway.

Unfortunately my playing and this recording does not do this instrument justice - I would need more "bonding" time with it to see what it can really do :) This is one of the few organs that has a 32' bass in the pedals.

Located at the Fayette Opera House in Fayette, Ohio, it has been the focal point for many years for the Glasgow Reed Organ Series, reed organ concerts that are performed 3 time a year. There are other fantastic instruments at the opera house too, a large Seybold that bears the Lyon & Healy name, and a gorgeous 1866 Alexandre harmonium.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Fayette
• Opera
• House
• Ohio
• Mason
• Hamlin
• Reed
• Organ
• rodney
• jantzi
• bach

[harmoniumbauer]

Great!!!! Do you use at the end the 32' Double Bass?

[rodneyjantzi]

@harmoniumbauer - At the very end I pulled the 32' stop. I wanted it sooner, but I missed the opportunity. You can probably tell that I had issues with getting the full organ engaged (failed to latch first time) at the end, and there was now way I was going to not use the 32' even if it was on the last note and it was going to throw my timing off :)

[Voldemorty2001]

Yeah, I haint never seen no reed pumper with the rank of bass pedals. Got any more pics of her?

Also, begs the question, does it have a suction box? (did it always have one, or was there some kid stuck walking on a contraption?)

[rodneyjantzi]

@Voldemorty2001 - I have another pic near the end of one of my videos "Reeding101 Chapter 5".

It did not originally have a suction motor on it, it used a side pump handle that stuck out the side of the console for the bellows operarator. I would imagine it would have been a tough job to keep the air moving...

[petterdiesel]

Generally reed organs are light weight! Not this one!LOL! Would so love to have a go at this organ!

[harmoniumbauer]

@rodneyjantzi Thanks for the kind answer! :)

[JerzyDude732]

Thanks for the upload. Great to know that the M & H was found and restored. It makes my Estey look tiny.

[dibfranciss]

Wow ! Congratulations, Rodney !!

[Musique3579]

Wow, what a fantastic Organ and your playing is just so neat! (Bet it would take me 50 years to restore something of that magnitude.) :-)

[ebach1]

great :)