Overtones

I’ve been sad this week, and I’ve spent time reminiscing about an American organ builder.

More precisely, I’ve thought a lot about losing my friend Martin Pasi on Sunday, September 6, in Collegeville, MN. I first met Martin in the Spring of 2008, about nine months after arriving in Chicago where my wife and I were beginning our retirement. Martin had gotten my phone number from John Brombaugh, an iconic American organ builder, and he asked if I would be willing to come to Winnetka Congregational Church to demonstrate his newest organ (see photo) while he listened in the nave of the church. That was a request that couldn’t possibly be denied! 

I enjoyed at least a half dozen visits to Martin’s mechanical action instrument of 47 stops, with ten reeds spread over its three keyboards and pedal. Sometimes I would improvise, sometimes I’d play repertoire and usually I’d draw registrations which Martin wanted to hear. I was amused when hearing, “that’s enough, Jay. Thanks.” He eagerly taught me many specific details about “blended sounds” (registrations), historic temperaments and keyboard actions.

Martin Pasi was born and educated in a large family in Vorarlberg, Austria, and was an apprentice organ builder with Rieger Orgelbau. Early on he received much praise for his natural skills as a pipe maker (both metal and wood), and he enjoyed many opportunities to visit antique organs in North Germany, The Netherlands, France and even the USA. The pipes in the Winnetka organ were “historically informed” creations inspired by 17th, 18th, 19th, and even 20th century organs.

Martin opened his American shop in 1990 in Roy, Washington — a rural area that we visited eagerly in 2016, after a Christ Church Winnetka Choir tour in Seattle, WA. In 2023, Martin moved his shop to Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN (another rural area) where Benedictine monks are committed to woodworking and other arts. Just this past August his new shop celebrated his twenty-ninth organ that will in the near future be delivered to St. Peter’s Catholic parish in Volo, IL, near Libertyville (https://www.sjaorgans.org/abbey-opus-2).

Martin Pasi’s direct influence on me includes 1) his great respect for organ building of the past, 2) his gentle, generous, collegial relationships, 3) his determination not to hide any organ building secrets, 4) his dedication to family and friends.

NOTES

Readers might be interested in the following:

1. The American Organist Magazine, October 2009, page 102 (accessible by logging in to your AGO member account at https://www.agohq.org/, clicking on the “Magazine” drop down menu, and scrolling to the bottom of the page to select “Access Full Archive”)
2. TAO, August 2024, page 48 (accessible as in Note 1, above)
3. Stephanie Brune, Liturgical Music & Choir Director at St. Peter’s Church, Volo (https://stpetervolo.org/music)
4. The Diapson (https://www.thediapason.com/news/martin-pasi-dead-72)
5. Randall Swanson, Organist at Winnetka Congregational Church (https://www.winnetkacongregationalchurch.org/non-denominational-church-winnetka/staff/randall-swanson/)

Submitted by Jay Peterson

Programmatic changes and changes in the student population at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary have led to the discontinuation of several music programs, including our choirs. I would like to make our choral library available to AGO members.

A spreadsheet listing the contents of the catalogue is available here.

If you are interested, please let me know at ron.anderson@garrett.edu.

Ron Anderson
Styberg Professor of Worship
Associate Dean for Institutional and Educational Assessment
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Lost Pipe Organs of America by Rollin Smith

Like many of us, I am interested in playing both old and new organs. I have been fascinated by pipe organs—and how they work—since I was in high school—a long time ago. Back then I think I was more interested in the mechanics of an organ than I was in knowing how to play one.  

This summer I came upon a great new book by Rollin Smith.  Perhaps you are familiar with his previous books about organs (etc.) published by OHS. This new book tells  a lot about 33 organs.  I have not read the whole book—yet. These were great American pipe organs that are now only remembered in history. If you “relish” reading things like this, you would enjoy the book.  

Having lived in the Chicago area my entire life, and having begun my first paid church organist job on the South Side of Chicago, I started the book by reading about The Chicago Stadium Barton Organ (chapter 27). I had heard a lot about that organ and remember hearing it—before the Stadium was torn down (1995), and replaced by the United Center. That chaper (eight pages) gives great details I had never heard (or remembered) about that organ. Also, there are some great photos of that organ—including the world’s largest organ blower—which weighed 9,500 pounds and produced 13,600 cubic feet of air per minute.   

The book contains 33 chapters and 241 illustrations.  

If you want to see the book, I can bring it to one of our chapter meetings, but I highly recommend it—especially if you “relish” reading about some of the finest organs in America—that are now gone.  

Submitted by Karl Bruhn

Since 2002, Immanuel Lutheran Church has sustained one of the nation’s distinctive church-based organ scholar programs, encouraging gifted undergraduate and graduate musicians to pursue careers in organ performance and sacred music (https://immanuelevanston.org/organ-scholar-program/).

What sets the program apart is its setting within the life of a worshipping, singing congregation. Candidates perform major organ repertoire, accompany live singers in a hymn, and interview with a nine-member jury drawn from Immanuel’s worship and music leadership. The jury considers not only technical accomplishment, but also musical judgment, liturgical awareness, and the ability to lead congregational song.

The 2026 scholars—Áron Sipos, an undergraduate at McGill University, and Gege Bi, a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music—join an accomplished community of Immanuel alumni now serving as organists, cantors, directors of music, educators, and performers throughout the United States and beyond.

Their recitals are presented on Immanuel’s mechanical-action pipe organ, an instrument grounded in North German and Dutch traditions and especially well suited to contrapuntal and Baroque repertoire. Each free recital will be followed by a reception welcoming the artists and audience.

Submitted by Greg Hummel

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