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By the time of another Estey installation, that at the Methodist Church in Lamar, Colorado, Fred was in charge of the installation.
Phipps auditorium denver kimball organ full#
Both Rick Morel and Larry Burt remember Freds insistence on working a full day without breaks, although he was genial, fair and good-spirited. It was an early indication of Freds incredible workaholic ways. A first, perhaps the earliest, was a 1911 Estey in Temple Emanuel. From player work, Fred Meunier was soon promoted to helping with the installation of pipe organs that Knight-Campbell brokered.
Phipps auditorium denver kimball organ install#
Rick Morel reports that Fred had a lifelong aversion to liquor, and has wondered aloud whether it wasnt possibly from Freds having to install remote-operated nickel coin boxes, wriggling through crawl spaces with stale beer and other fragrant diversion, enough to put off a man for a lifetime. Since most of these instruments were in saloons, and since he was still underaged, Fred was even given a note on official stationery to assure proprietors of his legitimacy. Soon enough he had picked up enough in the way of servicing automatic pianos and nickelodeon-type machinery that he was sent out on installation and service work. Mechanically inclined, he was fascinated to work his way into the machine shop and get acquainted with the mechanized side of things. (Many smaller cities received their organs through similar types of venues, LIST.)įred Meunier went to work for Knight-Campbell around 1907 or ∠8 as an elevator operator. It is fully conceivable that since these firms specialized in reed organs and other parlor instruments, a line that an outfit like Knight-Campbell would have made a killing in, it was only natural that Estey and Kimball would have looked to a responsible agent for further sales into church and theatre avenues. A man named Charles Wells was the companys agent for organs, primarily Esteys and Kimballs. A fixture in the musical life of Denver was the Knight-Campbell company, a one-stop shopping source for all things musical: sheet music, journals, harmonicas, pianos, nickelodeons, automatic pianos, other automatic musical instruments for the home, and even organs. In fact, understanding Fred Meunier is critical to understanding how organbuilding in Colorado unfolded from 1920 forward.
The installation of almost every organ during the 1920s and ∣0s in the region was governed through essentially one man: Fred Meunier. Denver is unusual in that its local financial climate did not produce the same boon in 1920s church building as struck many other prominent cities.ĥ. The way in which reform spun out took unpredictable turns, looking first to England, and then in a circuitous manner to Germany for inspiration and ideas, and never entirely absent from French influences.Ĥ. Progress was a constant, unrelated either to the numbers of organs produced and or the grim economic outlook.ģ. The transformation occurred despite wildly varying financial and cultural conditions. Within 15 years American organbuilding underwent almost a significant stylistic about-face.Ģ. How I thought that I could squeeze 15 years into 45 minutes is beyond me, because there really is much to discuss. When on a hazy evening some months ago I got an e-mail from Mike Rowe, hounding me for a topic, I spilled out that paragraph you have perhaps read in the Handbook, and promptly forgot about it. John’s parishioners are so attached that they affectionately call the instrument “Bertha.” And when the church’s assistant organist played the organ for the last time before the start of its refurbishment a few Sundays ago, Tattershall said, a number of church members cried.English influence and how it reached Denver organs, 1925-1940 Literally built into the building, the organ’s pipes are the lung of the church, almost as much of a vital member of the congregation as anyone sitting in the pews.
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“There are very few organs of this size and type that are in this type of condition,” said Susi Tattershall, a member of the church choir who also is a professional organ restorer. and even today ranks as one of the most magnificent church organs still in use in the nation. Containing nearly 6,000 pipes housed in a chamber 20 feet wide, 15 feet deep and 40 feet tall, it was the last big organ built by the W.W. The organ, finished in 1938, was a gift to the church from Margaret Rogers Phipps in honor of her father, Platt Rogers, a former Denver mayor. It’s going to be coming back in museum quality.” “This is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Stephen Tappe, the church’s music director, said. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu
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