Capuchin College
Washington, DC - Organ rebuilt by Lewis & Hitchcock, 2010
Capuchin College has a chapel that was last renovated in the 1970s. The altar has been brought forward out of the former Apse, and the monks all have chairs, where they can keep their hymnals and worship materials at their sides
The organ is Mφller Opus 6318 of 1935. When installed, the console was in the gallery with the organ case. When the chapel was renovated, AC equipment displaced the console, which was moved to the main floor under the organ.
The woodwork in the chapel had been quartered oak. When renovated, all the wood was painted to resemble red mahogany. The console interior shows the original wood color.
The organ was incredibly tight, to contain the style of windchest and mechanism that Mφller was building at that time. Servicing it was difficult, and the leather was failing, causing dead notes and stops.
Working with Father James Menkhus, we developed a plan to rebuild the organ. The best parts of the 1935 organ would be retained, and we would rebuild the console of a Mφller organ from Opus 8612 of 1953. We would use the chassis of the 1953 organ along with the best pipes and parts of Opus 6318 of 1935.
In our factory we built a new Swell enclosure. These shades are from Opus 8612.
The shades on the nave side are from Opus 6318.
The reservoir for the offset and pedal pipes was recovered.
The console of Opus 8612 was rebuilt. The stoptabs, pistons, toe studs and all interior works are new.
PVC was used for the winding instead of the old zinc lines.
The Oboe from Opus 6318 was retained, along with all the pipework from Opus 8612. There is now room to reach all the pipes to tune them, and space has been left for other stops from Opus 6318 to be restored and installed.
A memory level selector was installed on the right side of the console.
There is also a Transposer to change the pitch of the organ to suit the voices singing with it.
The wooden Gedeckt pipes along with the treble pipes; the new multiplex relay is at the right.
The organ now has a real red mahogany console. The new controls make the organ as flexible as possible.
Great
12 tabs
1.
16 Violone
85 pipes, prepared to have 1-12 from 6318
2.
8 Diapason
61 pipes, prepared to have 1-12 from 6318
3.
8 Gedeckt
97 pipes
8 Viola
from #1
4 Octave
from #2
4 Flute
from #3
2 2/3 Twelfth
from #1
2 Fifteenth
from #1
4.
8 Oboe
61 pipes, from 6318
8 Swell to Great
Chimes
prepared to have 25 tubes
Blank
Swell
12 tabs
16 Lieblich Gedeckt
from #3, prepared to have 24 pipes from 6318
8 Gedeckt
from #3
8 Viola
from #1
5.
8 Viola Celeste tc
prepared to have 49 pipes from 6318
4 Flute
from #3
4 Salicet
from #1
2 2/3 Nazard
from #3
2 Piccolo
from #3
1 3/5 Tierce
from #3
8 Oboe
from #4
Tremolo
Blank
Pedal
12 tabs
6.
16 Bourdon
prepared to have 44 pipes from 6318
16 Lieblich Gedeckt
from #3
16 Violone
prepared
8 Diapason
prepared
8 Flute
from #3 at installation, prepared to be from #6
8 Viola
from #1
4 Octave
from #2
4 Flute
from #5
4 Oboe
from #4
8 Great to Pedal
8 Swell to Pedal
Blank
Pistons
Under Swell:
General 1-5,
Swell 1-5, Full Organ
Under Great:
Set,
Pedal 1-3,
Gt/Ped, Great 1-5,
General Cancel
Toe Movements
Left:
Center:
Right:
Sw/Cresc
Gt/Ped, Full Organ
General 1-5
Shoes
Pedal 1-3
Memory level selector 1-12
Transposer: +/- 6 half steps