Casavant 1775 Images

February 5, 1993
Victoria, BC

St. Peter's Abbey
Muenster, Sk.

Dear Fr. William:

Thank you for your reply to my query regarding the fate of "my organ"!

You ask how did I get it --- by blood, sweat and tears, and denying myself most of the things one would expect a young man would like to have and enjoy at that stage of life. I had a book called "How to Build a Two Manual Chamber Organ" by H.F. Milne, but this described a tracker instrument, besides I didn't have access to wood, leather, metal pipes, to say nothing of machinery - we had no electricity on the farm. Another course had to be taken, therefore.
Father was an early user of modern methods and machinery in farming; after 1938 we began to expand and prosper, I worked with him in summer and went to University in winter. By 1942 I had graduated and we had installed a 32-volt system in our house. In Saskatoon I had made acquaintance with the organbuilder Legge from Toronto who came west twice a year to service the organs which had been neglected during the Depression. I had been corresponding with Mr. Stoot of Casavant and he sold me an old 2 manual tubular pneumatic console for $75. I had bought an old Warren slider chest, 5 ranks, and an old Kilgen 2 rank chest. I managed to hook up one chest before running out of tubing, impossible to get due to the war. I had no pipes, so when I heard that the Anglican Cathedral in Saskatoon had a photoplayer movie house "organ" they wanted to sell, I bought the pipes. They were good pipes except the Stopped Diapason were a Gamba and Open Diapason to middle C only. The trouble was, the wood pipes were mitred so much they, except for a few smaller ones, were impossible to use on a manual chest. The wood pipes with a lead foot are all that remains of that set which were used. The middle C pipes of the Open Diapason you have are the rest of that purchase.

Bill Legge had quit the firm and became a representative of the Jacques Organ firm of St. Hyacinthe. He sold a 3 rank Unit organ in place of the old 2 manual tracker Stevens organ in the RC Cathedral in Prince Albert, and gave me the twelve notes of the 16 ft. octave Gedeckt pipes which you now own.

I made a deal with Franklin Legge to work in his factory in the winter months; in summer I worked with Dad on the farm, which was getting larger every year.

The foreman of the factory was Cyril Robbins, a most meticulous craftsman and electric action expert. He could be terrifying to an apprentice who did untidy work, but we soon became good friends. The voicer was Eberhard Friedrich Walcker, grandson and namesake of the founder of the great Walcker firm of Germany. He had been employed by Casavant since 1921, but due to the cessation of organbuilding as a wartime measure he had been laid off. He left his wife and daughter in St. Hyacinthe and came to work with Legge until conditions improved for Casavant. We became good friends and I often visited him on Sundays in his garret where he lived a very frugal existence. He used to show me various voicing "dodges" which otherwise I would have had no chance of learning.

In time I became trusted enough to be sent out on tuning trips in various parts of Ontario, where my experience of other makes made me admire the work of Casavant all the more. Meanwhile my hope of obtaining good second-hand material from Legge faded, because he used all that material in his "new" organs, much to the disgust of his foreman, Cyril Robbins, who was considering going into business for himself.

Cyril suggested that I get rid of all "that old junk," if I would help him he would build new unit chests as a start of his own shop at a price I could afford. He also advised seeing Mr. Stoot about having Casavant build the console to my design. The largest unit organ Casavant built was their series 207U; I liked the design and sound so ordered the console to a similar specification. I signed the contract on my birthday in June 1944. That fall I went to Toronto to work with Cyril. While he did the woodwork, I cut out the leathers, glued up the valves, did the wiring. Because I hoped to have my own home someday, we made each chest easily disassembled, the wires being clipped on, a lot of extra work but well worth it, as time would prove. Through the organ grapevine I located a Casavant pedal chest in a music store in Toronto which was a great find. Cyril located some used cable and a man who built the magnets in his basement at a price I could afford, new ones being unobtainable. I had traded the old console to Chandos Dix in Vancouver for the 12 bass pipes of a Gamba and a Vox Humana, which turned out to be not the set he had promised me, but an old Warren set. I bought an Oboe from a builder in Omaha, Nebraska.

I got some pipes from an amateur in Kelowna, plus a slider chest he had made, for $35.  There were also some metal pipes; these and the chest were no good. I got the 4' Principal and a set of Melodia pipes from Bro. Sylvestre, a monk in Winnipeg who had built an organ for their chapel; Casavants had given him the working drawings for his instrument and he had done a very fine job of the chests and console. He was a machinist and had the care of the presses of The North-West Catholic. I also bought a 16' Bourdon from him, which I later sold to Dr. Hart, so I imagine you have that set also. Bro. Sylvestre was a venerable French-Canadian and an interesting man. He said, "Building that organ was the happiest time in my life. Usually the other monks come around and say `why don't you do this, or that, or why are you making this' and all sorts of pesterings. But when I was building the organ, ha-ha - they couldn't say a thing, they didn't have a clue!"

Mr. Stoot was a real gentleman and a good friend, I visited with him several times and we corresponded as long as he lived. Robbins suggested that if I ordered my console from Casavant possibly they would supply the missing pipes. Despite the scarcity of metal, they did so. M. Bedard voiced the flues and M. Fontain the 16' reed bass. I am sorry I never met those wonderful craftsmen who built the console. I imagine they too, as well as the voicers and Mr. Stoot, died long ago.

I installed the organ in April-May 1945. We had the opening recital in June; the local men's chorus plus interested friends and relatives were there, about 50 people. Wilfred Woolhouse, organist of Knox Church in Saskatoon, the best organ in that city, and the most prestigious post in town, had been appointed at age 17. He was just 20 when he played for us, and I remember what he played. He opened with Bach's 1st Trio sonata in E Flat, I have heard it played by many famous organists since, but never did it sound so well as Wilf played it on that little organ. He made it sound like a string trio, whereas all of the ones I have heard use little squeaky mutations, I suppose they think they are being `Baroque!' The same goes for the Marche Funebre et Choer des Anges of Guilmant. A Finlandia Transcription and a Prelude and Fugue of Bach's in E Major. He accompanied the choir singing the anthem `Sun of My Soul.' Of all the people who were there that fine summer day, only three survive, Wilf, who lives in Lethbridge, the choir pianist, who lives nearby, and myself. So maybe music keeps us in good health!

A few months later I had the opportunity to buy a lovely farm, and in order to get the mortgage I had to sell the organ to my father for $2000, at a loss to be sure, but I had no choice. Father moved it to his home in Saskatoon. Lauren and two other lads used it for practise and lessons and later became professional organists. After his marriage Lauren sold it to St. Michael's for, I think, $8500. With the exception of one time, I don't think the church spent much for service. In later years I imagine the guitars took over, or a cheap electronic which was good enough to accompany the dreadful junk music most Catholic churches now use.

I have written at some length, because I wanted to pay tribute to the memory of Cyril Robbins, Bill Legge, Eberhard Fr. Walcker, Stephen Stoot, Messrs. Bedard and Fontain, and the other Casavant craftsmen who have laid down their tools for the last time. I am most grateful that their work has not been in vain, and will continue to make music for generations to come.

How I got the Grace Church 4 manual is another story, too long to be included here. I am anxious to hear how you became interested in organbuilding and how you intend to convert a Unit organ to "Straight," more or less. I notice you have a Larigot, but no Tierce. We have both, but the Tierce is far and away more useful, especially in classical French and old English music.

May your project be blessed,

Sincerely,

Stuart Kolbinson
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