UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Taylor & Boody Organbuilders: An American Builder with a European Voice A document submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in the Keyboard Division of the College-Conservatory of Music 2008 by James Warren Walton B.M., James Madison University, 1979 M.M., The Catholic University of America, 1987 Abstract The primary focus of this document is an examination of the historically informed artisan organ builder Taylor & Boody. This document includes an abbreviated history of organ building, an examination of classic organ building techniques and a description of representative organs built by this firm. This paper concludes with a discussion of the influence of artisan builders on the large factory organ builders. iii iv CONTENTS Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 II. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ORGAN ................................................................6 III. BIOGRAPHIES OF GEORGE TAYLOR AND JOHN BOODY ........................12 IV. GEORGE TAYLOR AND JOHN BOODY AT JOHN BROMBAUGH‘S SHOP ..............................................................17 V. HISTORY OF THE COMPANY: THE DIVERGENCE .....................................19 VI. THE TAYLOR & BOODY COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED .............................23 VII. CHARACTERISTICS OF A TAYLOR & BOODY ORGAN ............................27 VIII. REPRESENTATIVE ORGANS ..........................................................................51 IX. THE AMERICAN PROBLEM ............................................................................78 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................87 Appendix Opus List. ...........................................................................................................................90 v Chapter I Introduction Taylor & Boody Organbuilders is a North American organbuilding company located in Staunton, Virginia, and is a premier builder of mechanical action organs in an historically informed style. Taylor & Boody‘s aesthetic is primarily influenced by the design and construction techniques utilized by organ builders in Holland and North Germany from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. While artisan builders such as Taylor & Boody inspire the support of many advocates, detractors often attempt to discredit them as primitive and anachronistic. In this document I will defend historically informed organ building generally and the artisan builder Taylor & Boody specifically as a musically valuable current in twenty-first century organ building. I have chosen Taylor & Boody because of their reliance on historically informed design and construction methods, and instruments among musicians. I first became acquainted with Taylor & Boody‘s work in 1983 when they built an organ for Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Richmond, Virginia. This was also my first exposure to the compelling sound of an historically informed organ, and marks the beginning of my interest in how this sound was created. The two following testimonials demonstrate the high regard for Taylor & Boody organs among musicians in Europe and North America. In an article for The Musical Times, John Hamilton listed Taylor & Boody in the top five builders in 1984, based upon Worcester, Massachusetts.1 Boyd Jones wrote in an article for the American Organist: 1 John Hamilton, ―An Emerging US Organ-Building Movement-1,‖ The Musical Times 125 (June, 1984): 347. 1 The organs of Taylor and Boody cannot be equated with the neo-baroque instruments of earlier decades. They are at once more historically informed and more universally useful. Their historical approach is partially a result of considerable study of old organs. They have documented pipes from numerous European antiques, and had an opportunity to dismantle the Schnitger organ of the Aa-Kirk in Gronigen. In this country they have restored the 1802 David Tannenberg organ in Madison, Virginia, and have done restorative work on several smaller organs for museums.2 Harold Vogel described the American builders of which Taylor & Boody is a part: Those who are building in historical styles have established a quality standard that approaches that of the antique organs, not only in terms of design, craftsmanship, and materials, but also in terms of sound and musicality. It is a renaissance in the truest sense, nourished by the mutual influence that has existed between the development of early music performance practice and instrument making that is a hallmark of the astonishing musical culture of the late twentieth century.3 Taylor & Boody belong to the specialized and conservative current of twentieth and twenty-first century organ building that draws its inspiration from the sixteenth through eighteenth century North European master builders. Lynn Edwards of the Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies described the trend in this way: In current American organbuilding it is possible to identify a distinct school of builders whose orientation is historical and based to a large extent on surviving North European Baroque organs. What they hold in common is their reliance on historical models in establishing the conservatories, and residences throughout the country—and 4 now abroad as well—are a unique blend of the old and the new. 2 Boyd Jones, ―Timeless Qualities: Boyd Jones visits Taylor & Boody in Staunton,Virginia,‖ Choir & Organ, 5 no. 3 (May-June 1997) : 31. 3 Gustav Fock, Hamburg’s Role in North European Organ Building. trans. Lynn Edwards and Edward C. Pepe. (Easthampton: The Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies, 1997), ix. 4 Lynn Edwards, ed., The Historical Organ in America: A Documentary of Recent Organs Based on European and American Models, (Easthampton: The Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies, 1992), i. 2 Pipe organ building styles in North America vary widely from scientifically exact copies of historical instruments to instruments with electric actions and combinations of pipes and electronic voices. These styles are driven by the complexity of constraints and the philosophies of the purchasers and builders, and by the manner in which the inevitable compromises are reached. The constraints imposed on organ building include space, cost, musical style, and acoustics. Any of these factors may lead a purchaser to select a particular builder or a builder to accept or reject a contract. Some purchasers will only consider a builder that will supply an electric combination action. Some builders will only build in an acoustically sympathetic room. While the best criteria for judging the success of an instrument is its musicality, critics often judge an instrument based upon their individual preferences of era and national style. In an article describing the organ for California State University in Chico, Munetaka Yokota described the characteristics of a superior organ: The beauty of the best historical organs is manifested in the dynamic balance that arises from complex yet perfectly integrated proportions. The performer and listener can relate to the organ through its appearance, feeling, and sound, as we can relate to God‘s creation. We see that historically the direction of organ building moved away from this dynamically balanced art. Struggling to regain this important principle, which lies within and across styles and which distinguishes superior art from mediocre, we have recently learned a great deal about the elements of the historical organs. The qualifying factors which may lead to this principle of integration, other that the basic requirements of mechanical and structural functions, can be summarized as follows: A. All pipes speak at their most natural point, creating stable pitch and a wide latitude of good speed of pressure increase or decrease. B. acoustically; therefore, the entire organ cooperates fully and richly.5 Perhaps all artisan builders wouldn‘t state these criteria in the same language, but the 5Munetaka Yokota, ‖California State University, Chico,‖ in The Historical Organ in America: A Documentary of Recent Organs Based on European and American Models, ed. Lynn Edwards (Easthampton: The Westfield Center for Early Keyboard Studies, 1992), 101. 3 central philosophy is the same regardless of the particular national style or era they find appealing. The principal characteristics of Taylor & Boody organs include tracker action, hammered lead alloy pipes, cut-to-length flues, soldered caps, flexible winding, unequal temperaments, slider chests with pipe groupings arranged by major thirds, and free-standing cases. This firm saws the lumber and smelts the metals for all components—the only part constructed elsewhere is the electric blower. This provides the utmost control over every aspect of organ construction and results in quality for which they are constantly praised. Taylor & Boody‘s stature as an artisan builder of the highest rank and significance in the arena of historically informed