Duct tape divertimento

Coe seeking to raise $100,000 to gain grant to restore 1930 organ

By Diane Heldt

CEDAR RAPIDS - Johann Sebastian Bach's spooky Toccata and Fugue in D minor is especially spine tingling when played on the majestic, 20-ton pipe organ in Coe College's Sinclair Auditorium.

“That's a great sound, isn't it?” said Brett Wolgast, Coe organist and adjunct music professor, as he leaned into the music's mournful bass intonations that all but rattled the rafters.

The organ was constructed in 1930 by esteemed American builder Ernest M. Skinner.

Today, duct tape holds some of the old parts in place, and a few others are missing.

But the organ still sounds great, a stroke of good fortune that Wolgast attributed to quality craftsmanship and diligent maintenance.

“It's a remarkable instrument,” he said.

Coe is launching a campaign this month to raise $100,000 toward the Skinner pipe organ's restoration. If it meets that goal, the college will get $800,000 from the Bradley Foundation in Bryn Mawr, Penn. - a philanthropic group with the sole purpose of supporting the preservation of Skinner pipe organs.

The organ at Coe is a good candidate because it has been largely untouched, with few modernizations or upgrades.

“Almost everything is original,” Coe music Professor William Carson said. “There aren't very many places where you can play an organ like this.” The organ actually belongs to the city of Cedar Rapids.

The Veterans Memorial Commission purchased it new for $35,000. Four thousand people packed Memorial Auditorium on May's Island for the dedication in May 1930. It was not unusual in that time for cities to buy grand organs for civic auditoriums.

But by the 1950s, the organ had fallen into disuse and some disrepair.

The city struck a deal with Coe to move the organ to campus. Coe's former Sinclair Auditorium - and its organ - had burned in a fire. A new Sinclair Auditorium was built, and the Skinner organ moved to Coe in 1952.

It would cost about $2 million to replace the organ with a new one, Wolgast said. But, then, who would want to?

“The idea is we're preserving Skinner history, but it's also a piece of Cedar Rapids history,” he said.

Jeff Weiler, a 1981 Coe graduate who is a pipe organ conservationist in Chicago, will head the restoration.

“The pipe organ at Coe is among a very rarefied class of musical instruments,” he said.

“It's among the most important pipe organs in the United States.” The fact that it is still a municipal organ, owned by the city, also is special, he said.

The restoration will repair original components and replace some - such as the leather straps - that are worn. The college also will move the blower room to a more suitable and environmentally controlled space.

The organ's blower provides the air that makes the sounds.

Two chambers on either side of the organ house more than 3,170 pipes, some of which need repair or replacement.

“There are millions of parts to an instrument this size,” Wolgast said. “We will essentially have a brand-new instrument, but it will be a historic restoration.”

ARTS EXTRA

 What:  “Veterans Memorial Organ Celebration” concert

When: 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25

Where: Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College, Cedar Rapids

Why: Kick off the campaign to raise $100,000 toward Skinner organ restoration

Includes: Organ recitals; tours of the pipe chambers and blower room; refreshments

Sponsors: Coe's Music Department and the River Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will co-sponsor

Admission: Free