Organ Specs
Music & the Organ
Dr. Matthew Lewis, Music Director
Music at IncarnationMusic has always played an important role at Incarnation. During his time as Music Director, Thomas Dunn established a choral tradition of excellence. This tradition continues on as our all-professional choir offers a wide variety of music for the Sunday liturgies. Services for the Holy Eucharist feature traditional Mass settings by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert to modern works by Poulenc, Messiaen, along with American music. Morning Prayer Sundays include music of the great Anglican tradition, from Purcell and Byrd to Stanford, Holst, Walton and Britten.
The Organ at Incarnation
The importance of music at Incarnation is evident by the church's history of outstanding organists and music directors, including such names as Charlotte Wells, Edward Shippen-Barnes, Thomas Dunn, Leonard Raver and Jon Gillock. Unfortunately, records of previous instruments are lost, leaving a sketchy history regarding the first instruments at the church.
A large Roosevelt organ occupied the west gallery along with the choir after the fire of 1882. In 1886, the choir was moved to the chancel, as was the custom for most churches in New York. A new organ was shortly thereafter introduced in the chancel — one organ considerably smaller that the large Roosevelt in the gallery — and the Roosevelt was silent for over a year. Electrical connections were made, and the Roosevelt was once again heard. The new organ in the chancel was built by Hutchings-Votey. It is not known what became of the Roosevelt.The current three-manual Aeolian-Skinner organ was installed in 1954, retaining some pipework from the existing 1902 Hutchings-Votey organ. Tonal changes were made in 1957. In 1981, the Schantz Organ Company made substantial tonal revisions and added several ranks of pipework, bringing the organ to its present 54 ranks.
In the summer of 2000, Bynum Petty of the Petty-Madden organ company restored the organ console and replacing its worn-out relays. For its size, the organ at Incarnation is a miraculous success. We are constantly working to improve the organ, hoping for tonal revisions, including the voicing of stops, and additions of stops. Any contribution toward this end to the Organ Fund would be appreciated.
