CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 10: BUILT ENVIRONMENT
CHAPEL
Holtkamp Organ

CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ

Chapel. Interior with view of Holtkamp organ. [ii_chapel_0362b.jpg]

CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ, 1936 – present


TAGS: Holtkamp organ, Charlotte F. Hedges Chapel, organ music, Nativity Play, Glyn Morris, Arthur Dodd, Votteler Holtkamp Sparling Organ Company, Walter Holtkamp Sr, Miss Jesse Munger, Walter Holtkamp Jr, narrow-gauge railroad, the Munger Organ, philanthropy, memorial concert by Fred Haley


CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ: THE CHAPEL AND HOLTKAMP ORGAN BEGINNINGS

The Holtkamp Organ is one of the most remarkable chapters in Pine Mountain Settlement School’s musical history. The history began with the arrival of Glyn Morris as Director of the School in 1931. Fresh from theological seminary at Union in New York City, Morris was an accomplished musician on the cello, violin, and dulcimer. He also had a talented staff, including Arthur Dodd, the Principal of the School, who had studied at The Julliard School and had already proved himself as a concert pianist on the School’s piano.

Morris began to plant the seeds of interest in adding a pipe organ to the Chapel at Pine Mountain saying that the children needed it for their cultural experience and the talent was available to play the instrument. Like so many pioneers at the School, Morris was dogged in his campaign for education and music was a personal focus.

He started his campaign with Miss Jesse Munger who had contributed money for the Charlotte F. Hedges Chapel in 1923, in memory of her aunt Charlotte Hedges. Munger was persuaded by Morris and she generously contributed more than $2,000 toward the purchase of an organ during the depths of the Great Depression. Morris located a friend of the School, Melville Smith, who knew Walter Holtkamp, an organ maker in Cleveland, Ohio. The Votteler Holtkamp Sparling Organ Company had an excellent reputation and manufactured unique organs but like many businesses during the Great Depression, was in a downturn. Holtkamp had only managed to sell two organs that year and the opportunity to build and sell a third was quickly accepted by Holtkamp.

Holtkamp was also experimenting with a re-design of his organs and was looking back to the eighteenth-century European models for ideas. When Morris described the environment for the organ, Holtkamp saw an opportunity to return to the more classic style that would allow the 650 pipes to be revealed rather than being disguised by a screen in the manner of earlier centuries. The encasement that was built for the pipes is one of the most attractive elements in the Chapel.

CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ

Dieter Album. Holtkamp organ pipes in the rear of the Chapel. [shul_007.jpg]

CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ: THE TWO-MANUAL LIMITED

In an article written by the son of Walter Holtkamp, titled “The Two-Manual Limited: An Approach to Integrity of Instrumental Form,” we learn more about the unique integrity of the small but exquisite organ. Walter Holtkamp, Jr. tells us that “Integrity means completeness, a material wholeness, the condition of having no part wanting.” This integrity has to do with the site, sound, and room placement of the organ. Of these, sound, or more correctly tonal quality, or The Stoplist, takes precedence. To get the full benefit of the instrument Holtkamp Sr. said of that sound, “Put it high on the wall and let it sing down the ridgepole.”

Holtkamp, Jr., continuing his father’s trade of building organs, says in summary:

There is no greatness without integrity of form and this integrity can only result from artistic restraint exercised by musician, salesman, and builder. The burden is on all of us but it starts with the musician. He must forsake apparent quantity for quality, remembering that less is more.
[Walter Holtkamp, Jr. The Two-Manual Limited, An approach to Integrity of Instrumental Form]

The organ that Holtkamp designed for Pine Mountain has 10 ranks, also called “stops.” The pipes have special tonal qualities that are unique and flute-like. The three sections of the organ’s keyboard and the three ranks of the foot peddles joined four ranks enclosed in the Sewell organ box behind the organ itself. Holtkamp then chose pipes that were based on eighteenth-century European organs. They are small and plain but are encased in a beautiful casing. Around the base of the pipes, carved into wood, is the phrase, “PRAISE HIM IN SONG.” It is a magnificent organ and one that has inspired other organ makers. But, as a large musical instrument, it is fragile and to get it to the School it had to come across a mountain that had a history of terrible transport.

THE ORGAN ARRIVES

The organ arrived at Putney, Kentucky, by train in 1936 and was unloaded in parts packed into wooden boxes. The boxes were then loaded again on the box-car that would run on the unpredictable narrow-gauge rail line that was left from the recent logging operation near the School. The trip across Pine Mountain — up the rugged slope of the south face and down the sharp incline of the north face of the mountain — was treacherous but successful.

Once unloaded the organ was then re-assembled according to the very specific needs of the organ and the meticulous instruction of the maker who sent Holtkamp craftsmen to install the fragile instrument. It was not a rapid process. Once the organ had been assembled it was then blessed by the name of the donor — the “Munger Organ” — after the generous woman whose family had been so kind to the School over the years.

Jesse Munger never saw the organ in place, as she died shortly after her gift arrived at the School, but the Boarding School had the rich experience of this spectacular organ to add to their cultural experiences at the School and the memory of this generous woman to add to their education of giving back — of philanthropy at its best.

PHYSICAL LOCATION OF ORGAN AND PIPES

The organ, placed in the choir area of the west end of the Chapel, was joined with the pipes by a series of electric wires that ran to the far east end of the Chapel. The organ, over the years, was played continuously by many staff, guests, experts, and novice students. By the mid-seventies, there were signs of deterioration in the delicate structural elements of the organ. There were warped wooden parts from the deep humidity of the north-side of the mountain, nibbles of rodents on the yards of wiring, and obvious signs of human abuse. The annual maintenance came from a trust established for organ maintenance, but time took its toll. Nevertheless, the organ continued to be used for weddings, funerals, religious services, and the annual Nativity play. By the mid-1960s the organ was 30 years old and it was time to celebrate its importance in the organ world and to raise awareness of the care of the historic organ

CELEBRATION OF  THE ORGAN AND FUNDRAISING

In 1966 the organ was 30 years old and the Chapel was 40 years old. To mark its third decade, a recital was planned for the organ. Fred Haley, a native of Pineville, Kentucky, was contacted to provide a memorial concert in the Chapel at Pine Mountain. Haley, a well-known member of the American Guild of Organists, was trained at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, and also at Syracuse University. At the time of the invitation, Haley was an organist at Oklahoma City’s St. Luke’s Methodist Church.

Haley’s concert was heavily attended and in tribute to the importance of the organ to the community of Harlan County, a generous fund was donated that was used for the restoration of the aging organ.

It has been some years since this fund-raising event occurred and the organ is again in need of attention. The watchful eyes of Burton Rogers are now closed with his death in 2007 and his talent on this wonderful instrument and his love and care of this organ are sorely missed. The skills of Clara Pope, a former Board member of the School, Jamie Greene, another Board member, and community member, Clay Howard, are occasionally called in to the School to play for events. While their watchful eyes still call out for repairs and for attention to the health of the unique instrument,  the organ waits for focused attention.  Attention, Holtkamp lovers?


GALLERY I: CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ Correspondence
February, March, & November 1938

CONTENTS OF CORRESPONDENCE: CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ

[NOTE: Letters from PMSS staff in the PMSS Collections are carbon copies, typewritten, unsigned, and meant for the Office files. The original signed copies were sent to the correspondents. The following list of contents is in chronological order and not necessarily in the order of the image numbers.]

02 February 8, 1938. To Walter Holtkamp, The Votteler Holtkamp Sparling Organ Company, Builders, Cleveland, OH, from [unsigned, apparently Glyn Morris, PMSS Director]. Since Holtkamp Company hadn’t sent a bill, he asked if “the work done this year” was a donation or had their bookkeeper forgotten to send it. He was glad to hear from Frank Hofer that the Holtkamp Company was busy.

03 February 10, 1938. To Morris from Holtkamp. “I suppose I am a softy where Pine Mountain is concerned. … No, the bookkeeper did not forget you. However, if you insist on throwing your money around I will send a bill.” Mentions that “Melville and Martha” are traveling abroad for a year.  “Yes, we are very busy.”

04 February 14, 1938. To Holtkamp from Morris, thanking him for the donation. “It was certainly decent of you to stand by us as you did.” In turn, Morris offers PMSS printing services. He is sending a dozen PMSS calendars for him and his friends.

05 February 22, 1938. To Mr. Elbert Tolliver, Helton, KY, from [unsigned], assuring Tolliver that he will receive a copy of “Machine Age of the Hills” after the classes are finished using it.

06 March 24, 1938. To Holtkamp from [unsigned], congratulating Holtkamp Organs for the article on organs in last week’s “Time.”

07 [DUPLICATE OF 06]

01 November 30, 1938. To Glyn Morris from Holtkamp, thanking Morris for “boosting my stock with Mr. Weiler of Harlan…[which] may lead to a second instrument in Harlan County.”


GALLERY II: CHAPEL Holtkamp Organ 


See Also: CHAPEL