Concerts Focus Attention on Repair of Tucson's Majestic Masonic Organ

From January-February 2005

Concerts Focus Attention on Repair of Tucson’s Majestic Masonic Organ

James Reel
Arizona Daily Star

Scottish Rite Cathedral, Tucson, Arizona

As souvenirs from the 1904 St. Louis Exposition go, it sure beats a gaudy tasseled pillow, and at a cost then of $20,000, it was no trinket. But, like far cheaper souvenirs, the organ used by the Tucson, Arizona, Scottish Rite Bodies eventually fell victim to benign neglect. Nature did its damage, too. Humidity is a constant worry, and an earthquake in 1932 severely damaged the organ’s mock harp feature, which was not repaired even when the famous Aeolian-Skinner company rebuilt and expanded the organ in 1936.

In 1981, the, the Scottish Rite briefly considered scrapping the wheezing, creaking pile of pipes. Instead, the organization spent $12,000 refurbishing it. Even so, the instrument's decline continued. In 1993, local organist Cherie Wescott asked the Scottish Rite if it wanted to sell the poor thing. The administrators declined, but invited her and other musicians to use it for public concerts.

Cherie Wescott at the Tucson Scottish Rite organ

When Wescott inspected the organ, she found that it was dirty and had become virtually inoperable. The swell shutters, the louvers in front of the pipes that open and close to adjust the music’s volume, were jammed. The wiring in the console had deteriorated so much that a lot of contacts were not meeting, and several keys either stuck or didn't produce notes. The mock harp still didn’t work.

Yet Wescott, the Scottish Rite, and the Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Guild of Organists recognized that this was no heap of junk. They vowed to bring the organ to standard at an estimated cost of $70,000 in repairs.

The Scottish Rite Cathedral, itself on the National Register of historic buildings, received a $70,000 two-year matching grant to renovate the building’s exterior. Other grants were eventually secured to fix up the interior, but it was not certain that funding organizations would allow money to be allocated in part to organ restoration.

Yet the instrument, according to Wescott, is every bit as historic as the building. It should be considered part of the original structure because it was installed in 1916, the same year the building was dedicated. To Wescott and other guild members, this organ is not valuable simply because it’s old, but because it includes certain musical features that can’t be found in more recent instruments. The organ began as the echo division of the huge instrument built for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition by the California Organ Co. of Van Nuys, California. Its sounds are closer to those of Wurlitzer theater organs of the periods than to cathedral instruments. Part of the original organ was moved to John Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia. Though additions made to it since then, the Philadelphia portion has become one of the largest pipe organs in the world.

Tucson’s remaining organ is much more modest, but still versatile. It came to town with three manuals or keyboards and 22 ranks of pipes, a rank essentially corresponding to a single stop on the console. Aeolian-Skinner technicians expanded it a bit in the 1930’s. Today, the organ still delights Wescott as she puts it through its paces. “The stops all have their own individual character,” she says, referring to the distinct sound quality of each rank. “On organs built today, when you add stops together. you get a bunch of mush. With this one, you can add stops together and still solo out lines. And they don’t make a lot of these stops anymore, or don’t make them good." She is always pleased to demonstrate the organ’s mellow viola d’amore stop, the array of bright flute sounds, and the vox humana option that has fooled people passing through the lobby into believing a human choir is singing.

These tones aren’t exactly what an organist prefers for sober church services, but they are perfect for secular pieces written in the early part of this century specifically for this sort of instrument. A 1917 recital at the Scottish Rite, for example, featured arrangements of Rossini’s overture from William Tell and the march from Wagner’s Tannhauser.

When the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists was chartered in 1937, Wescott says, the first concert it sponsored was on this organ. Many of the most celebrated organists of the mid-20th century performed on it. Now, guild members are eager to use it themselves. Wescott says, "A lot of the church organs around here haven’t been kept up much better than this, and some of us are really anxious to have another place to play."

The Scottish Rite is an exceptionally attractive venue. Although the organ pipes are hidden behind grilles in the wall, the meeting room itself is visually pleasing––bright and open, with clean 18th-century lines and discreet rococo trim. The acoustics seem alive and warm.

The Scottish Rite is eager to throw the hall open for public use, and the organ has been used for a series of occasional recitals by local organists. The programs are designed to call attention to the instrument and help raise funds for its continued restoration.