In 1967 Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, built the organ for Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Detroit. Some years after the church was closed, the organ became available, and we recommended it for installation at St. Mary’s. It replaces a much smaller unit organ installed in 1964. That instrument now serves as a choir rehearsal organ at Assumption Grotto parish in Detroit.

This organ comes from a time in which the neo-classic ideal was being reborn. Organs from the period are characterized by low wind pressures, smaller scales, and rich harmonic development. There also tends to be more speech transient noise, which needs to be adjusted for the acoustics of the room. In making plans for moving the organ, we recommended a couple of modest additions. The original 8′ Spitz Principal was available only in the Pedal. This is such a basic stop for the chorus that we felt it was important to make it available in the Great division, so new pipes were added to complete that rank. We also added a Céleste to the Swell. This stop is purposely mis-tuned slightly sharp to give it a shimmering sound for quiet effects.

As can be seen in the photo, one big challenge was to adjust the layout of the organ to fit the new room. The original configuration was totally asymmetrical, since the organ was in a corner of the room. To allow for a symmetrical arrangement around the window, we installed the Swell division under the Great. We built new casework for the other side, which houses the blower and the static reservoir. The Pedal chest above it was reversed, as was one of the chests for the large wooden Subbass pipes. We installed the Spitz Principal in the center, building new windchests and reservoir for that stop. We installed a multiplex control system, which includes a multi-level combination action, and has provisions for a transposer and record/playback features.

Pipe organ projects are very labor-intensive; we spent almost 1600 hours on this project. Several people were involved over the course of the work: Edwin Judd, dismantling; Michael O’Neill and Lee Western, electrical wiring, assembly and installation; Richard Swanson, voicing and tonal finishing; David Wigton, dismantling, voicing, installation, tuning.

STOPLIST

Great
  8′ Spitz Principal 61 pipes Zinc, spotted metal, 29 new pipes
  8′ Rohrflute 61 pipes Zinc, spotted metal
  4′ Principal 61 pipes Spotted metal
  2′ Blockflute 61 pipes Spotted metal
  1-1/3′ Mixture III 183 pipes Spotted metal

Swell
  8′ Gemshorn 61 pipes Zinc, spotted metal
  8′ Gemshorn Céleste 54 pipes Casavant (Starts at GG)
  8′ Gedeckt 61 pipes Zinc, spotted metal
  4′ Gemshorn 61 pipes Casavant
  4′ Spitzflute 61 pipes Spotted metal
  2′ Principal 61 pipes Spotted metal
  8′ Oboe 61 pipes Zinc, spotted metal
  Tremulant

Pedal
 32′ Resultant Acoustic
 16′ SubBass 32 pipes Stopped wood
  8′ Spitzprincipal (From Great)
  8′ Bourdon 12 pipes Stopped wood
  4′ Choral Bass 32 pipes Spotted metal

Console
  Couplers – G/P8, S/P8, S/P4, S/S16, S/S4, S/G8, S/G4
  Tilting tablet console
  Compass: 61/32
  Combination Action: Six General thumb pistons,
  toe studs for Great to Pedal and Full Organ
  Transposer and Player pistons
  Balanced shoe for Swell expression

Totals
  13 stops,
  15 ranks,
  857 pipes

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