FROM DR. DAVID HURD: A MOVABLE ORGAN COMING TO THE LADY CHAPEL

The history of pipe organs at Saint Mary’s includes several instruments in several locations. Here is a brief summary of some of that history and its context, and news about a recent development.

The original main organ in the present building was a rebuild and enlargement of the 1886 George Jardine instrument from the previous building. The Jardine organ originally had been built with mechanical action, but in the redesign for the new church building, its action was electrified which allowed its two playing consoles to be at a distance from the pipes they controlled. Accordingly, it was possible to locate a ten-stop division of the organ in the chancel while most of the organ was installed on the back wall of the nave. The façade pipes from this chancel division are still in place high on the right side of the chancel, but no sound has emerged from this location for nearly a century. While the Jardine organ in the present church building was hailed as remarkable at its 1896 inauguration, its electric action, novel at the time, soon proved unreliable. By 1929 the process of replacing the Jardine organ with a new instrument designed by G. Donald Harrison was underway. Thus, a new organ, built by the Aeolian-Skinner Company, was installed in 1932. This organ, conceived in the likeness of a French Grand Orgue, speaking entirely from the back of the nave, has served Saint Mary’s with distinction and delighted lovers of organ music for the better part of a century. It received significant enhancements in 1942 by Aeolian-Skinner and again in 2002 by Mann and Trupiano. Ernest White was one of the legendary musicians of Saint Mary’s past, distinguished as organist, choirmaster, composer, organ builder, and music editor. He served at Saint Mary’s from 1937 until 1958, teaching, playing recitals and bringing much well-deserved attention to the landmark Aeolian-Skinner organ. During his tenure, in addition to the main organ in the church, there also were pipe organs in Saint Joseph’s Hall, in the theater, and in his apartment in the parish house. Some of these instruments, no longer at Saint Mary’s, remain extant today in other locations.

Larger church buildings typically have more than one organ. Historically, as at Saint Mary’s, the main organ was most often at the liturgical west end of the church facing toward the altar at the opposite end of the main axis of the room. A secondary instrument was often found in the choir area. Since a single instrument in one location would not have been acoustically effective in all regions of a large church building, such secondary organs were used mainly to support or accompany vocal and instrumental music in the chancel while the main gallery organ served to fill the nave with sound. In the past century, when electric actions for pipe organs have become much more reliable, portions of organs have been able to be located wherever in a building there is space for the pipes and to which wires can be run. (The flexibility afforded by electric action has been a double-edged sword, sometimes leading to aurally and visually inartistic results, but that is a topic for a different time and place.) A common variant scenario in many sizable churches today is where the main organ is located in the chancel with the choir, and a smaller “antiphonal” division is installed at the rear of the nave, mainly used to keep the congregation up to speed on hymns. In this scenario, both organ locations may be played from one or more consoles by means of electrical connections. Historically, however, pipe organs in different parts of the room are entirely independent of one another. This is virtually always the case when the organs have traditional mechanical action.

In the 1960s, Saint Michael’s Church, on the Upper West Side, adventurously contracted with Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany, to build a new main organ for the rear gallery of the church building. This contract would result in the first modern (post-World War II) European mechanical-action organ to come to New York City. This happened at a time when the venerable traditions of European organ-building were being rediscovered with renewed appreciation and celebration. Initially, very few American organ builders ventured into this gathering movement, but the organ-building shops of Rudolf von Beckerath in Germany and Dirk Flentrop in Holland were the first to export many fine mechanical-action organs to North American institutions beginning in the 1950s. A striking three-manual von Beckerath gallery organ arrived at Saint Michael’s in 1967 and remains one of New York City’s most notable pipe organs to this day. While this instrument was under construction, the von Beckerath firm provided Saint Michael’s with a one-manual “positive” organ for the parish’s use while awaiting the arrival of the main organ. For fifty-six years, the two sibling organs have lived together at Saint Michael’s, one permanently installed in the “west” gallery and the other—capable of movement, installed as it is on a movable platform—usually found in the “south” transept chapel. Recently, the one-manual chapel organ was offered for sale. I purchased it and have offered it to be placed at Saint Mary’s, at least for the time being, where it can serve as a “choir” organ in the Lady Chapel and chancel areas.

This small one-manual organ, built in 1965, has six stops and eight ranks of pipes. (For comparison’s sake, the Aeolian-Skinner gallery organ at Saint Mary’s has four manuals and 92 ranks of pipes.) It will fit well at the back of the Lady Chapel, where previously there has been no musical instrument, and will be available for use at services in that space. Theoretically, this organ may also provide instrumental support for services in the chancel, speaking directly across the ambulatory from the Lady Chapel. In addition, since the organ will be placed on movable platforms, it may be brought out into the open space between the nave pews and the chancel rail on occasions for liturgical or concert use. Once the organ is in place at Saint Mary’s, the possibilities for its use can be explored. My hope is that the presence of this distinguished little pipe organ, at least temporarily, will be a resource to further enrich the liturgical and musical fabric of Saint Mary’s.

Many more fascinating historical details on pipe organs at Saint Mary’s can be found at the American Guild of Organists New York City Chapter Organ Project (by clicking here as well as here). — David Hurd, organist and music director

A MESSAGE FROM FATHER SAMMY WOOD

Coinciding with the arrival of the von Beckerath organ in the Lady Chapel extension, our columbarium will be relocated, at least temporarily, to the Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy, at the west end of the church, near the 46th Street entrance, just off the right-side aisle of the nave. The columbarium holds the urns containing the ashes of the beloved departed of our parish. The word “columbarium” is derived from the Latin word columba, meaning “dove,” because the rows of niches in such mortuary structures are reminiscent of structures used by ancient Romans to house pigeons and doves. (It should be noted that the Vault at Saint Mary’s does not in fact contain separate niches. Urns are carefully placed next to each other on shelves.) The Mercy Chapel was reconstructed in 1923 as a more spacious and dignified mortuary chapel than the space then being used for that purpose to the west of the Lady Chapel, and it is currently the site of the monthly Requiem Masses of the newly reconstituted Guild of All Souls Chapter at Saint Mary’s. In fact, the first liturgy celebrated in this building after the relocation will be the Requiem on Saturday, September 16, at 12:10 PM. The Mercy Chapel was conceived as a “chantry,” a special chapel within a medieval church that was endowed by the benefactor of that chapel for the singing of Masses for the benefactor’s soul after his death. It is also fitting that our columbarium be housed in a space where prayer for the dead is offered on a daily basis by members of our All Souls’ Guild. Please join us for Mass in the Mercy Chapel on the third Saturday of every month or stop and spend a few moments in the sacred space to pray for those we love but see no longer. — SW

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for all victims of violence, assault, and crime; for all refugees and migrants; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; for those whom we serve in our outreach programs, for our neighbors in the Times Square neighborhood, for the theater community, and for those living with drought, storm, punishing heat, flood, fire, or earthquake. We are asked to remember in our prayers this week the people of Maui, Morocco, and Libya in the aftermath of the devastating natural disasters in those places.

We pray for those for whom prayers have been asked: For Reha and the Slusky-Sterbin Family, Luis, Liduvina, Kait, Flannery, Blair, Terry, Richard, Aston, Brendon, Joe, Tristan, Mary Lou, Mary Barbara, Emily, Frank, Humberto, Steven, Emily, Ingrid, Janet, Claudia, Joyce, June, Cooki, Sharon, Bruce, Robert, Andrew, Don, Carlos, Christopher, Charlotte, Jennifer, Harka, Suzanne, Quincy, Gigi, Phyllis, José, Brian, Susan, and Carmen; for Thomas, Jamie, Lain, Keith, and James, religious; for Lind, deacon; Carl, Allan, and Stephen, priests; and Michael, bishop.

We pray for the repose of the souls of John Di Santo and Stanley Nelson (1946), whose year’s mind is September 17.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . John Di Santo, a great friend of Saint Mary's, died peacefully on Thursday, September 14, while in hospice care in Queens, after a long illness. John was a neighbor of ours. He lived nearby on 43rd Street and often worshiped here on Sundays. He was a native New Yorker and knew a great deal about our city's and neighborhood's history. His funeral is to be at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Cross on 42nd Street. Date and time have not yet been announced. Please pray for John, his family, his friends and neighbors at Woodstock House, and all who mourn in your prayers.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Our regular daily liturgical schedule, Monday through Friday, is Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Evensong and Benediction will be offered next on the first Sunday in October.

Friday, September 15, 1:30–3:00 PM, Neighbors in Need Drop-by Distribution Day. For more information about making donations to this program—or about volunteering—speak to MaryJane Boland, Marie Rosseels, or Father Jay Smith. (Next month’s Drop-by will take place on Friday, October 20.) Learn more about the program here.

Friday, September 15, 5:30–6:45 PM, The Centering Prayer Group meets in Saint Benedict’s Study.

Saturday, September 16, 12:10 PM, Monthly Requiem in the Mercy Chapel (Ninian, Bishop in Galloway, c. 430)

Sunday, September 17, 9:30–10:30 AM, Adult Formation Class: “Conversion, Transformation & Life in Christ.” This week: What do we mean by “conversion”? Is it an experience or a process? When we “change from one thing to another,” how then do we persevere? How do we remain faithful to this change in our lives? How do we honor and affirm what we now know to be true? There is almost always a story connected to an experience of conversion. What is your story? Read more about formation at Saint Mary’s here.

Sunday, September 17, The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 19 (Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, 1179), Readings: Ecclesiasticus 27:30–28:7; Psalm 103:1-2,8-14; Romans 14:5–12; Matthew 18:21–35. The preacher is the Reverend Deacon Rebecca Weiner Tompkins. The cantor is Jonathan Mark Roberts.

Sunday, September 17, Ladies’ Tea . . . It’s time for the ladies of Saint Mary’s to ParTea on Sunday, September 17 at 1:00 PM after Mass. Come “spill the tea” with us as we build fellowship with all the lovely ladies of Saint Mary’s. An assortment of delectable delights will be served as well as an assortment of teas. RSVP is encouraged, but not required, by informing Grace Mudd or Susanna Randolph. We are excited to see you there!

Monday, September 18, Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, 1882

Tuesday, September 19, Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690

Wednesday, September 20, John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1871

Thursday, September 21, Saint Matthew the Apostle

Saturday, September 23, Of Our Lady

Sunday, September 24, The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, Proper 20 

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S: NEWS & NOTICES

Maui, Morocco, and Libya . . . Some links with suggestions for aid and assistance:

• Global Citizen

• CBS News

• Charity Navigator

The Reverend Deacon Rebecca Weiner Tompkins was a member of Saint Mary’s, and then, after her ordination to the diaconate, she served here as the parish’s deacon. She served the parish in many ways over the years. She helped lead mission trips to Honduras. She taught our children on Sunday mornings, using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She visited the sick, showed us how poetry could be a source of great spiritual wisdom, and served as deacon during the liturgy. She was a great friend to many here at Saint Mary’s. Rebecca now lives mostly in Nashville, Tennessee, where she has been serving at a local parish, and where she often preaches on Sunday mornings. We are very happy, therefore, that on Sunday, September 17, Rebecca will be returning to Saint Mary’s and will be preaching at the Solemn Mass. We hope that you can be here to hear her preach and to welcome her back to the parish.

The Empty Frame is Empty No Longer . . . The frame on the façade of the front of the church was hidden behind the scaffolding for many long years. (So long was it hidden that we’ve forgotten what once lived in the frame!) Once the scaffolding and shed came down the existing sign was in very bad shape and so it needed to be removed. A newly-designed sign was placed in the frame this week. Our sextons tell us that passersby are already stopping to take a look, which is very gratifying.

Livestream issues . . . We lost our ability to livestream Solemn Mass last Sunday about ninety seconds into the broadcast. We have been working with our different providers of the various components of the system to pinpoint the problem all week. As of Friday morning, the issue still hasn’t been resolved. If we are unable to be live by Sunday morning, we will post a recording of the Mass to our webpage later in the day. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sermons on our Website . . . We have updated the sermon page of our website and will be posting videos of the sermons after each Solemn Mass. We will aim to get a video uploaded by the end of the day on Sunday for those who were unable to make it to Solemn Mass. Click on a thumbnail of a video along the lefthand side and then enlarge the screen to play it. Of course, a full video of Solemn Mass will continue to be archived on our website as well. Older sermons can be read by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Remaining Dates to Donate the Altar Flowers in 2023 are Sundays, October 22 and 29; All Saints’ Day, November 1; Sundays, November 5, 12, and 19; and Advent III on Sunday, December 17. The suggested donation is $250. We are also always happy to receive donations for flowers at Christmas. To make a donation, please contact Chris Howatt. If you’d like to check about other dates available or have questions about the flowers or the Flower Guild, please speak with Brendon Hunter.

Helping with our Hospitality Budget . . . We are very grateful to our neighbors at the Coffee Bar in the Actors Equity Building and our friends at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School for their very generous support. We were able to serve some substantial breakfast items at Coffee Hour last Sunday because of the High School’s donations. If you would like to sponsor a Coffee Hour, please call the Parish Office or speak to Father Jay Smith.

Father Sammy Wood will be away from the parish at the end of the month, September 26–28, attending a clergy conference.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, SEPTEMBER 17

Joséph Jiménez (c. 1601–1672) (or José Ximenes), composer of Sunday’s organ prelude, was an organist at Saragossa in 1654. Apart from that fact, thirty-four organ works and his death date (1672), nothing is known about him. In The History of Keyboard Music to 1700, musicologist Willi Apel wrote that, in the hands of such composers as Jiménez, “the Baroque Tiento evolved into a national type, which cannot be likened to anything else. The peculiarity of the species consists in a wealth of formulae, which may best be called pictorial, for indeed these compositions acquire a picturesque, scenic quality. They represent a kind of drama, a colorful theater, on which certain figures appear, linger for a while, and then make room for others—all without real continuity or unification, but in a loose array whose meaning and attraction lies in its kaleidoscopic changes.” Sunday’s postlude is also from a Spanish composer, but from one who flourished a century and a half after Jiménez. José Lidón entered the Royal Chapel of Madrid as an altar boy in 1758 and was taught by organist Antonio de Literes. From 1768 he held music directing positions at Orense Cathedral and the Madrid Royal Chapel, successively serving Kings Charles IV and Ferdinand VII. From 1805 until his death, he was Maestro de la Capilla Real in Madrid. Where the Tiento by Jiménez demonstrates an improvisational late Renaissance/early Baroque keyboard practice, José Lidon’s Sonata, also on the first tone, presents a clear late Baroque Italianate two-sectioned structure. The first section leads to a dominant cadence and the second returns to the home key. Lidon’s Sonata is intended for harpsichord or organ with a “royal” trumpet.

The musical setting of the Mass this coming Sunday is Grosse Pointe Service by David Hurd, organist and music director at Saint Mary’s. This setting was commissioned by Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to honor Frederic DeHaven at the time of his anticipated retirement as organist and choirmaster of that parish. This unpublished setting is for unison voices and organ and was premiered at Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, in 2007. It was subsequently sung as the setting for daily Eucharist at the 2008 Sewanee Church Music Conference. It utilizes the Rite II Eucharist texts and includes Kyrie and Trisagion in addition to the Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei to be sung at the Solemn Mass on Sunday.

At the River, the familiar shortened title for Shall We Gather at the River—also known variously as Beautiful River and Hanson Place—is a hymn written in 1864 by American poet and gospel music composer Robert Lowry (1826–1899). The pertinent scripture reference for this hymn is Revelation 22:1. The title Hanson Place recalls the original Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where Lowry, a Baptist minister, sometimes served. At the River has been arranged by many composers over the years including a well-known treatment in Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs (1952), which will be sung during Communion by our cantor, Jonathan Roberts.

More about our cantor: Bass-baritone Jonathan Mark Roberts has performed over two dozen principal roles and solo masterworks from the 16th century to world premieres. Selected appearances include Opera du Périgord, France; the Kapitelsaal, Salzburg; the Mois Moliere festival, Versailles; the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe; Emmanuel Music; and the Celebrity Series at Boston Opera House. Jonathan was previously soloist and artist-in-residence at the First Unitarian Society in Newton and has performed with renowned New York ensembles including the Choral Society of Grace Church, C4, and the Canticum Novum singers. He is a two-time New Jersey Governors Award recipient and a finalist in the Grand Concours de Chant, Austin, Texas. Jonathan is a graduate of Harvard College, where he was a Choir Secretary and Choral Fellow with the Harvard University Choir. He joined Saint Mary’s choir in October 2022.

AROUND THE DIOCESE

At the Cathedral . . . On Sunday, September 24, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the inaugural cohort of the Community at the Crossing will be received and vested at the 10:30 AM Mass. This ecumenical group of young adults will spend a year together in an intentional religious community on the cathedral grounds. Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have all expressed their support for this important initiative by our diocese. The Archbishop of Canterbury will be the preacher at the liturgy, and all are invited. Father Matt serves on an advisory board for the program and will be attending on behalf of the parish clergy. Let Father Matt know if you are planning to go so that we can meet up and sit together.

At the Church of the Good Shepherd (236 East 31st Street) . . . Father Morris writes “We would like to invite the good people of Saint Mary’s to join us for Evensong on September 17 (and the third Sunday of every month thereafter) at 4:00 PM. Instead of a sermon, we will follow the British cathedral custom of having a brief instructional conversation, based on questions from the people in attendance (as priests did in the Soviet Union when they were not allowed to have adult education classes). 

COMING UP AT SAINT MARY’S

Thursday, September 21, Saint Matthew the Apostle

Friday, September 29, Saint Michael & All Angels
Sung Mass 6:00 PM

Sunday, October 1, Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Beginning of Program Year 2023–2024 & Return of the Choir of Saint Mary’s!

Sunday, October 1, 5:00 PM, Evensong & Benediction

Sunday, October 8, 4:00 PM, Blessing of the Animals

Monday, October 9, Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day
Federal Holiday Schedule: Mass at 10:00 AM, No Daily Office

Sunday, November 5, Daylight Saving Time Ends

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Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s.
We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

This edition of The Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.