Saint Ambrose's new organ will benefit community

Intermountain Catholic

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The Holtkamp organ is dismantled in Saint Mark's Cathedral and moved to Bigelow & Co. Organ Builders, Inc., to be rebuilt before it is installed so a case can be built around it at Saint Ambrose Parish. (Inset) St. Mark's Cathedral's rose window can now be seen, with the removal of the organ. IC photos/Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — Saint Ambrose Parish will soon get a new organ that will benefit the community. The parish purchased the 50-year-old Holtkamp organ from Saint Mark’s Cathedral. It will be rebuilt in September and installed next summer.

St. Ambrose and J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School Music Director Christopher Huntzinger said the new organ will enhance the liturgies at St. Ambrose and will be used to inspire a new generation of musicians through its use in the Choir and Liturgical Studies program at the school. "We also look forward to the opportunity to open our doors to the community to host concerts, recitals and events, but most important is this instrument’s role in supporting the sung prayer of the Church at Eucharist," he said.

The Holtkamp organ has been used for concerts and recitals over the years as well as for services at St. Mark’s Cathedral, which has served the Episcopal community since 1874. It was the first permanent Protestant church built in the Salt Lake Valley. Dean Emeritus Father Rick Lawson of St. Mark’s Cathedral said his congregation decided to replace the Holtkamp organ more than a year ago because it needed some repairs and it covered the rose stained-glass window in the organ loft.

"In 1967, when the Holtkamp organ was put in, the window was covered up," said Fr. Lawson. "Having been to the Cathedral of the Madeleine, I could see how that organ was designed to allow the rose window to be seen. So we are in the process of remodeling and replacing our organ to expose the window. Mike Bigelow, who serviced the Holtkamp organ, is doing the work on our new organ."

Bigelow, of M.L. Bigelow & Co. Organ Builders, also was chosen to complete the work of moving, cleaning and enlarging the Holtkamp organ for St. Ambrose, where it will be combined with the parish’s existing organ. The Holtkamp pipes, wind chest and console will be kept, along with the pipes from the Wick’s organ currently at St. Ambrose, Bigelow said.

"The Holtkamp organ will go from seven ranks, or sets of pipes, to 50 ranks," said Huntzinger.

A rank is a set of pipes controlled by stops. "A small organ might have 10 ranks and a large organ 100 ranks of pipes," Bigelow said. "When you pull out a stop you activate a set of pipes. The new Holtkamp will have a lot more variety and a bigger, fuller sound. It won’t look at all like it did at St. Mark’s. I’ve designed a new façade trying match the architecture of St. Ambrose."

The Holtkamp organ is of a Neo-Baroque tonal style and St. Ambrose has the perfect acoustics for such an instrument, Huntzinger said.

The Neo-Baroque style originated around the 17th century; these organs were built with pipes that mimic the sounds of different instruments, along with extensive principal pipes, which give the organ its distinctive full tone and are arranged so that they can be played in several distinct groups, allowing the organist to use the instrument like a small orchestra.

St. Ambrose’s organ loft will be remodeled to accommodate the Holtkamp.

"The organ loft ceiling will need to be removed to give the added height needed for the larger pipes and sounds," said Huntzinger. "Aside from the structural work, we have had the cost of asbestos abatement and structural steel reinforcements, and to date we are still trying to raise about $50,000. Any donation will help.

"All of the monies that have been raised to purchase the instrument and make the necessary preparations to the church have been paid for by some very generous private supporters," Huntzinger said. "The majority of this project was paid by the Roper family, one of the founding families of the parish. Their donation was in memory of their parents, George and Ada Roper. The organ will be named the Roper Memorial Pipe Organ."