{"id":49326,"date":"2017-11-28T11:50:14","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=49326"},"modified":"2018-09-11T12:35:17","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T16:35:17","slug":"feature-a-tour-of-torontos-big-three-pipe-organs-head-to-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/11\/28\/feature-a-tour-of-torontos-big-three-pipe-organs-head-to-head\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | A Tour Of Toronto’s Big Three Pipe Organs \u2014 Head-to-Head"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ludwig Van tours three of the most important organs in Toronto \u2014 all Casavants \u2014 being among the largest in Canada, and one in the top 50 globally.<\/h2>\n
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The five-manual, 120-stop organ console at Metropolitan United Church. (Photo: John Terauds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

F<\/span>rom the floor shaking low rumble of a 32-foot stop to the soaring notes of strings and even the delicate trill of a bird, there is nothing that really compares in sheer scale and range with a pipe organ. Toronto is home to a wealth of pipe organs of varying sizes and types, such as the Warren tracker organ at St. Michael’s Cathedral or the pretty instrument at the St. James Cathedral downtown. More than just individual instruments, they are part of the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Among them, the city plays host to three of the country\u2019s largest instruments, housed at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church (TEMC) on St. Clair West, St. Paul\u2019s on Bloor St. East, and the Metropolitan United Church downtown. There are only another four organs in the 6,000-plus pipe club in Canada, three of them located in Montreal at the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul, the Oratoire St-Joseph, and the Basilique Notre-Dame, and one at the\u00a0 Winspear Centre\u00a0in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

Along with the instruments themselves, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Toronto was also home to a number of organ builders. There was Samuel Warren, Canada Pipe Organs, and Mathews Pipe Organs, among others. All three of Toronto’s largest pipe organs were built by Casavant Fr\u00e8res of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Brothers Claver and Samuel founded Casavant Fr\u00e8res in 1879 after spending some time in Europe learning the craft. They owed their expertise to p\u00e8re Joseph Casavant, known as the first organ builder to have been born in this country. He worked in the Montreal area beginning in the 1840s. While most of the previous century\u2019s pipe organ manufacturers have fallen by the wayside, Casavant Fr\u00e8res remains one of the premiere organ builders in the world.<\/p>\n

The Casavant housed at the unassuming Metropolitan United Church on Queen and Church is a majestic instrument, built in 1930 after a fire destroyed much of the churches\u2019 interior. Incorporating 8,233 pipes and 116 total stops, it’s Canada’s largest pipe organ, and ranked at about 42nd in the world. The original instrument included 7,840 pipes and incorporated 500 miles of wire. Another 400 or so pipes were added as a gift to the church in honour of a member of the congregation in 1998. The newer set of pipes were also made by Casavant, and are housed on the back wall of the church.<\/p>\n

The original instrument at TEMC was built by Casavant in 1914, Opus 583, with just under 7,000 pipes and five manuals. The organ at St. Paul’s on Bloor Street was also put together in 1914 with four manuals or keyboards. The last addition at St. Paul’s in 1955 brought the number of pipes to 7,461.<\/p>\n

Naturally, regular maintenance of these large instruments is crucial. The metal pipes are affected by temperature changes, and monthly visits by organ techs seems to be the norm. The beauty of having a well-maintained instrument, even one that is a hundred years old or more, is that they don’t have to remain static. The organ at TEMC underwent a multi-phase renewal in 2016 that included refurbishing the console, keys, and electronics, along with the addition of 1,080 new pipes by Casavant Fr\u00e8res. While the maintenance and renewal projects undoubtedly represent a significant outlay of cash, congregations seem happy to pony up the funds.<\/p>\n

The guts of the organ \u2014 the pipes that create those majestic sounds \u2013 are often hard to see, not to say outright invisible. At the TEMC, for example, the original pipes are encased in the walls on either side of the organ. At St. Paul’s, the main organ’s four manuals also control a Gallery organ, housed in an organ chamber high over the west doors. The look of each instrument is individualized. In St. Paul’s, the visible pipes are unpainted zinc, in keeping with the Gothic design of the church.<\/p>\n