The firm has dabbled in virtually every 20th-century stylistic trend of American organbuilding. So what makes Wicks Opus 6419 at Kalamazoo’s First Congregational Church “Neo” instead of “old-school” Victorian? Well, it is truly a long story, one that has been about 100 years in the making for the Wicks Organ Company! It is important to remember that Wicks has been around for more than 100 years. Most of these traits have been described with words and phrases that we have all heard: “it’s so muddy,” “it just can’t articulate repeated notes in the texture,” “the action is so clumsy,” “this thing is so treble deficient,” “it’s tubby,” “it’s contrapuntally challenged and I cannot hear the voice leading at all,” “it is lacking in a solid classic chorus up through mixture,” and yes, I have even heard this one: “it’s so frumpy!” We have all been told in our organ studios that most Victorian organs have certain universal traits. He is among the many folk who, when they hear the description of “Victorian” applied to an American-made organ of the early 20th century, conjure up less-than-savory images to describe the sound. What he experienced was new for him, even as an experienced American organ man. When he played the first Diapason chorus on our display organ, Opus 6295 from 2002 (which still stands in shop’s erecting room), he coined this term, which I believe to be quite apropos on many levels. Credit for this somewhat curious name of the new style must be given to the Wicks North Texas area sales director John Dill. The “Neo-Victorian” label is not one of our own making. Furthermore, it is rather shocking for most musicians to find out that Wicks is now building high-pressure organs, utilizing stops and tonal palettes that have not been typically associated with the firm. Indeed, this somewhat unique style is little known in most organ circles. The Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois, has ventured into an exciting realm of tone, unknown by the firm or its customers for some fifty years. After many months of deliberation and soul searching, First Congregational Church selected the Wicks proposal and, they too took a leap of faith with regards to this “new” Wicks style of tonal design, voicing, and construction. Even though several of the other organs on the square provide an interesting spectrum of tonal styles, representing varying degrees and spins upon the American-classic school of tonal design, they were not sure whether they wanted to venture too far from this tried and true “comfort zone.” Nevertheless, the Wicks team took a leap of faith and proposed an instrument of the firm’s so-called “Neo-Victorian” style-the first ever to be proposed in this region of the country. However, they were not yet sure of the actual style they desired. The organ committee instructed the bidding builders to propose something special: something unique that would complement rather than duplicate the other instruments on the block.
It was from this impressive list of instruments that the committee of First Congregational Church began to study. Having so many intriguing, contrasting organs in such a small area is a true gift to the organ enthusiast and an invaluable tool to the deliberating organ committee. Moreover, I learned that these new organs were within walking distance of one another! The Congregational church’s organ would share turf with two instruments by Létourneau (one in the Methodist church and one in the Baptist church), two older Casavants (one in the Christian Science church and one in the Presbyterian church), a newer Dobson in the Episcopal church, a Kilgen in the Reformed church, and, of course, the soon to arrive Nichols & Simpson in St. When I first went to First Congregational Church in the year 2001, I was told that the new organ would be in the company of a host of large, new instruments. Kalamazoo is no exception to this trend in fact, when it comes to the presence and popularity of the pipe organ, Kalamazoo reigns as a leader. First Congregational Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Opus 6419įrom the spectacular display of floral color found at the annual Tulip Festival in Holland, to the ingenuity of the great Christopher Columbus Smith as he launched the first-ever Chris-Craft speedboat, Western Michigan has provided us with a rich cultural, artistic, and recreational history.
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