Dear Folks...

This e-mail comes to you from Wesley-Knox United Church in London. This year, Wesley-Knox is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of its magnificent 3-manual 56-stop pipe organ. Several events have been planned as parts of this celebration, but the one we want to tell you about in this e-mail is the April 26 organ concert by Wesley-Knox's own Karen Ann Schuessler. Here are the details:

ORGAN AT 100!

Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Wesley-Knox pipe organ, 1908-2008!

Karen Ann Schuessler, organ

Glorious music by Bach, Bales, Cabena, Duruflé, Guilmant, Pachelbel and Sweelinck

8 p.m., Saturday, April 26

All tickets only $10, available at the door

Wesley-Knox United Church, 91 Askin Street, London, 673-4803, www.wesleyknox.org

Attached, you'll find a jpg. file of our concert poster, and below, just in case you'd like to know more about the organ, an article that recently appeared in the Wesley-Knox church newsletter. You'll enjoy this concert, even if you think you don't like organ music! After the concert we'll be offering organ tours. We think you'll be amazed at all the mechanisms and pipes (there's 3100 of them!) that work together to produce that magnificent sound!

Finally, we'd really appreciate it if you could forward this e-mail to as many others as you can. We really would like a good crowd! Thank you for doing this. Hope to see you at the concert!

Harry MacLean, 519.473.1668


Text of article follows:--------


IT¹S THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WESLEY-KNOX ORGAN!

This year we¹re celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Wesley-Knox Organ! This magnificent instrument, which leads Wesley-Knox in its worship Sunday after Sunday, was built in 1908 by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. It cost the church, then known as Askin Street Methodist Church, $5000. That was real money in those days!

What was the organ like when it was new? From the pew, it looked almost exactly as it does today. However, no electric blower. Instead, wind for the organ came from a large bellows in the church basement. This bellows was powered by a water pump. Before you could play the organ, you had to turn on the tap! (We¹re not sure, but we think churches didn¹t have to pay for water back in 1908.) Also, the playing action was tubular-pneumatic rather than electric. Keys on the console were connected to the windchests with tiny lead tubes. When the organist pressed a key, air inside a tube was released. This would cause a valve under an organ pipe to collapse, let air up into the pipe, and presto, the pipe would play!

Over the years the organ received many upgrades. An electric blower replaced the water-powered bellows. Electric playing action replaced the tubular-pneumatic playing action. Twice, there were new consoles. But two things that were never changed were the organ¹s 2000 pipes and the overall sound of the organ.

That changed in 1997. Why? First, in the early 1990s, the organ, both mechanically and electrically, was becoming unreliable. There was always something to fix! That determined the timing. Second, church music had changed. When the organ was first installed, people liked dark, heavy organ tone. That was fine in 1908 when worship was sombre and serious business and organists liked to play a lot of orchestral transcriptions. But that didn¹t do much for the celebratory style of worship Wesley-Knox was adopting in the 1990s, or for all the wonderful organ music‹500 year's worth‹that organists had rediscovered since the organ had been built.

In the summer of 1995, the organ was dismantled and taken to the Guilbault-Therien organ factory in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. There, it received new windchests, new playing action, over 1000 additional pipes that give the organ a bright clear tone, and a state-of-the-art computer-controlled console. It is now one of the finest instruments in our city.

So how are we celebrating? First, our Director of Music, Karen Ann Schuessler, will present a concert of glorious organ music on Saturday, April 26. Tickets will be only $10! There¹s also going to be a Sunday afternoon concert, likely in the summer, and a trumpet and organ concert with Karen and Shawn Spicer in the fall. Throughout April there will be organ tours after Sunday services. Church bulletins will continue to feature organ ³Did you know?² items and Karen will play a toccata after every service!

So come to Wesley-Knox! Take an organ tour! Come to the concerts! Join in our celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Wesley-Knox Organ!‹HJM