DePauw's New Pipe Organ is Taking Shape

July 15, 2002

July 15, 2002, Greencastle, Ind. - A unique, new chapter in the DePauw University School of Music, one of the oldest in America, is coming together piece by piece in Kresge Auditorium of the Performing Arts Center. After several years of discussion and planning, a new pipe organ is being installed. Hellmuth Wolff and his crew from Canada are putting the one-of-a-kind instrument in place, a process that will take a total of eight weeks. The organ, purchased from Wolff and Associates, of Laval, Quebec, Canada, was specially designed for installation on Kresge's stage.

[DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Construction Schedule" 506KB] "Most of the construction will happen during the summer of 2002, so the first phase of the organ will be completed by around September 1," says Carla G. Edwards, associate dean of the School of Music, associate professor of organ and music and University organist (seen at right). "Then the workers will be back for about 3 weeks in the fall semester. [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Shouldn't Disrupt" 358KB] It shouldn't disrupt the concert schedule at all because most of the work will be completed during the day, but some of the classes that are scheduled onstage at Kresge will have to be rescheduled in other places."

The process of obtaining the organ began about five years ago, Edwards says. Several separate contracts were signed for the instrument and the pieces arrived on campus July 1. [DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "The Organ" 243KB]

Featuring three manuals, 41 speaking stops, 56 ranks, and almost 3,000 pipes, the organ was first assembled in Wolff's factory in Canada and then disassembled and brought to Greencastle to be put in its permanent spot. Currently, pieces of the organ fill the auditorium's stage and aisles as four workers drill, sand and tweak the design of the wood frame. When that's completed, the pipes that will produce the organ's sound will each be installed by hand.

You can follow the progress of the organ installation at this Web sitethat offers photos that are updated on a weekly basis.

This is the second organ that Wolff and Associates has designed for use in the state of Indiana. The other resides at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Indianapolis. Pictures of that organ are available from Wolff's Web site by clicking here.

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