THE SCHLICKER ORGAN COMPANY

The House of Prayer organ was built by the Schlicker Organ Company of Buffalo, New York, and dedicated in 1989. Herman Leonard Schlicker (1902-1974), born in Germany, was a third generation organ builder, who apprenticed with firms in Germany, France and Denmark before emigrating to the United States in 1925. In America, Schlicker worked first for the Wurlitzer firm, then for Tellers of Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1932 he established his own company in Buffalo. (See Figure 1.)

Following Herman’s death in 1974, the Schlicker Organ Company was directed by his son-in-law, Ralph Dinwiddie. Not being an organ builder, he sold the company in the early 1980s. The company again changed hands in 1992 and was acquired in September 2002 by Matters, Inc., an innovative supplier to pipe organ builders.

According to the Schlicker Organ Company website, their instruments are characterized by attention to detail in the upper-work and possess a brightness and clarity of tone, along with a slightly thin edginess in the plenum (PRINCIPAL PIPES). This was in keeping with the narrow scaling and no-nicking style of voicing in vogue at the time. Schlicker’s reeds are quite German in nature.

THE ACQUISITION OF THE ORGAN

During the tenure of House of Prayer Pastor Roger K. Hansen (see Figure 2), members of the congregation and staff began serious talks about acquiring a new pipe organ. According to the 50th Anniversary Program Book (2009), “In 1986, a pipe organ fund was begun with a gift of $25 each from two ‘snowbirds,’ $500 from Ralph Edison in memory of his wife; $1,000 from Luna Odland in memory of her husband, Ben, and $250 from Selma Koidel in memory of her husband.”

Mrs. Luna Odland, who had contributed $1,000 to the fund, served as chairperson for the Pipe Organ Committee. On November 20, 1986, Esther Radovich sent letters to several major pipe organ companies, including Holtkamp in Cleveland, Ohio; M. P. Möller in Hagerstown, Maryland; Reuter in Lawrence, Kansas; Schantz in Orrville, Ohio; Wicks in Highland, Illinois, Richard L. Bond in Portland, Oregon, William Atkinson of Vista, California (a representative for Robert Turner), and Schlicker in Buffalo, New York.

Esther Radovich also sent letters at random to churches across the U. S. that had pipe organs about the size needed for House of Prayer built by the above-mentioned organ builders. She wrote, “Of all the replies (20 or so), the organists were pleased with their instruments—one exception: Presbyterian Church in Colton, CA. has a lawsuit against Reuter.”

On Saturday, February 28, 1987, members of the Organ Committee traveled to Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Hemet (Riverside County) to meet with Thomas Foster, a representative of the Schlicker Organ Company and hear the church’s Schlicker organ. The committee was pleased by what they saw and heard and asked Foster to create a “preliminary design” suggestion specifications for a “two manual and pedal electric-action unit organ.” Proposition One was submitted on April 29, 1987 which included eleven ranks and 592 pipes:

  16 SUBBASS . . . . . . . . 12 pipes
8 GEDECKT . . . . . . . 61 pipes
8 PRINCIPAL . . . . . . . . 12 pipes
8 SALICIONAL . . . . . 73 pipes
8 CELESTE . . . . . . . 49 pipes
4 OCTAVE . . . . . . . . 61 pipes
4 CHIMNEY FLUTE . . 73 pipes
III MIXTURE . . . . . . 183 pipes
16 TRUMPET . . . . . . 68 pipes

Proposition One noted, “Wood pipes will be made of Cherry, Poplar, Oak and other hardwoods. Metal flue pipes and reed resonators will be made of such material as will best reinforce the desired tone quality.” The cost of the instrument would be $77,500. The contract was signed by Bruce A. Edwards and Harlan P. Gruenstein on August 7, 1987.

In January 1987, a set of twenty-one chimes manufactured by Maas-Rowe Carillons Inc. of Escondido were contracted for an extra $7,500, and a 1 1/3 LARIGOT stop was added to the organ, bringing the total cost for the organ and chimes to $90,665.62.

Not all House of Prayer parishioners were thrilled by the considerable expense of a new pipe organ. One anonymous parishioner noted, ”How can we afford a new organ when we can’t pay current expenses? I don’t think God thinks we need to spend all that money on an organ when there is [sic] so many people needing our help. Can’t see how a big fancy organ can do much for our church.”

The primary donors who contributed to the organ fund were Ellen Benson Ashby, Evelyn Benson Heise and Inez Benson Madsen (see Figure 3), who pledged $25,000. A plaque was installed on the back of the organ console to honor these three women who made the acquisition of the Schlicker organ possible. The HOP directory noted, “Inez Madsen . . . enlivened the fund by presenting the congregation with $12,500 along with the challenge for the congregation to match these funds, after which she would give an additional $12,500. Inez not only gave the $25,000 but ended by giving a total of $50,000.” The final payment of $16,900 was paid on July 12, 1989.

The House of Prayer organ was dedicated on July 23, 1989. Guest organist Thomas Foster, the Organist and Director of Music at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, California, performed the dedicatory recital on October 15, 1989. His program consisted of works by Georg Philipp Telemann, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ernst Pepping and Johann Sebastian Bach. His fee was $500.

Luna Odland, in a letter to the Schlicker Organ Company, wrote, “The organ is beautiful, and the music is so uplifting for our congregation on Sunday mornings. We truly do enjoy it.”

SPECIFICATIONS

The House of Prayer Schlicker organ console has two manuals of 61 keys each, and a 32-note concave radiating pedal board. It is a small, but beautiful and well-maintained instrument with 592 pipes, plus a 21-note set of CHIMES and an 8-bell ZIMBELSTERN. It contains nine RANKS of PIPES with distinctive and contrasting timbres.

   (1) 16 GEDECKT/SUBBASS (73 pipes, pipes one through twelve unenclosed)
(2) 8 PRINCIPAL (73 pipes, unenclosed)
(3) 8 SALICIONAL (73 pipes)
(4) 8 SALICIONAL CELESTE (49 pipes, beginning on Tenor C)
(5) 4 CHIMNEY FLUTE (73 pipes)
(6-8) MIXTURE III (3 ranks, 183 pipes)
(9) 16 TRUMPET (68 pipes)
CHIMES (21 notes, A3 to F5, unenclosed)
ZIMBELSTERN (8 bells, added ca. 2011 by L. W. Blackinton)

STOP LIST

PEDAL

   16 SUBBASS
8 PRINCIPAL
8 GEDECKT
8 SALICIONAL
4 OCTAVE
4 CHIMNEY FLUTE
2 CHIMNEY FLUTE
III MIXTURE
16 TRUMPET
8 TRUMPET
4 TRUMPET

TOE STUD

   ZIMBELSTERN

MANUAL I (GREAT)

   16 GEDECKT
8 PRINCIPAL
8 CHIMNEY FLUTE
8 SALICIONAL
4 OCTAVE
4 GEDECKT
2 OCTAVE
2 CHIMNEY FLUTE
III MIXTURE
16 TRUMPET
8 TRUMPET
4 TRUMPET
CHIMES (A3-F5, 21 notes)

MANUAL II (SWELL)

   8 GEDECKT
8 SALICIONAL
8 CELESTE
4 CHIMNEY FLUTE
4 SALICIONAL
2 PRINCIPAL
1 1/3 LARIGOT
1 SIFFLOETE
III SCHARF
8 TRUMPET
4 TRUMPET
TREMOLO

ABOUT THE HOUSE OF PRAYER SCHLICKER ORGAN

The organ is a wind instrument; its pipes are powered by moving air created by an electric blower. When a key is depressed on the console, a valve is opened under a particular pipe or pipes which allows air to flow through the pipe(s) thereby producing a tone. The timbre (quality) of the sound depends mainly on three factors (1) the types of metals used in the pipes, (2) the shape or design of the pipe, and (3) the speech characteristics established by the pipe voicer. Most organ pipes are made from lead, and are alloyed with tin, plus trace amounts of antimony and copper. Some pipes, such as the SUBBASS (and the larger 8-foot GEDECKT) PIPES, are made from wood.

Pipe shapes can be cylindrical, conical, or rectangular. Most pipes are open at the top (like the mouth-blown musical instrument, the flute), while others are stopped or capped. FLUE PIPES have no moving parts, while REED PIPES have moving spring brass tongues that vibrate much like clarinet or saxophone reeds. The largest and longest pipes at House of Prayer are 8-feet in length, although the SUBBASS and 16-foot TRUMPET PIPES sound an octave lower than written and legitimately can be called 16-foot stops.

For a small organ, the House of Prayer Schlicker has a wide variety of tonal colors. Amongst the PRINCIPAL PIPES (sometimes called DIAPASON), which are the traditional pipes used for accompanying hymns, the organist can begin with a fairly quiet 8-foot stop, and gradually increase the volume and brightness by adding in succession, (2) the 4-foot OCTAVE, (3) the 2-foot OCTAVE, and (4) the III MIXTURE. Once in a while, for especially loud and dynamic passages, the 16-foot, 8-foot, and 4-foot TRUMPET STOPS can also be added to “raise the church roof.”

The House of Prayer Schlicker boasts of not one, but two ranks of FLUTE PIPES. These pipes have a lighter and rounder tone than PRINCIPAL PIPES, and are used sometimes during contrasting verses of a multi-verse hymn, or for solo preludes and offertories, as well as vocal and instrumental accompaniments. The CHIMNEY FLUTE is a partially-stopped pipe—but with an open chimney attached to the gasketed cap to allow development of more harmonics than are present in a totally-capped pipe—with a “chiff” at the moment the pipe begins to speak. The GEDECKT FLUTE (called SUBBASS in the lowest octaves) is a fully-stopped pipe with a lighter and more delicate tonal quality. The SUBBASS PIPES are made of wood, not round but rectangular.

Our Schlicker organ has two ranks of STRING PIPES, known as the SALICIONAL and SALICIONAL CELESTE ranks. STRING PIPES are, as a rule, quiet and slightly brighter and less deep than flute pipes. They are often used as an accompaniment played by one hand on one manual, while the other hand plays a melody with a solo stop on another manual. The SALICIONAL can function as a small or “echo” PRINCIPAL in certain music.

The CELESTE SALICIONAL is a special rank which is tuned slightly sharp. All the pipes on the organ are tuned to A-440 (440 vibrations per second at 70 degrees Fahrenheit), however the CELESTE PIPES are tuned slightly sharp (typically ten cents—ten percent of a semi-tone), and when combined with the true-tuned SALICIONAL, produce a pleasing shimmering chorus effect.

The House of Prayer Schlicker Organ has one set of MIXTURE pipes: the III MIXTURE in MANUAL I. The III SCHARF in MANUAL II plays the MIXTURE pipes an octave higher. When the organist presses one key using a MIXTURE STOP, three pipes sound simultaneously in intervals of octaves and fifths. MIXTURES are usually employed to add brightness, definition and power to a chorus of PRINCIPAL STOPS.

The TRUMPET PIPES are REED PIPES, as opposed to the more common FLUE PIPES which contain no moving parts and produce sound solely through the vibration of air molecules. REED PIPES contain a vibrating strip of brass—the tongue, which beats against a stationary shallot. These pipes can be quite raucous, especially in the lowest octave, and have a quality not unlike a bassoon or contrabassoon. The lowest pitches can evoke a smile in listeners, just as listeners sometimes smile at the sounds a bassoon (commonly referred to as “the clown of the orchestra”) can produce. The TRUMPET PIPES can be used in hymn introductions, as contrasting accompaniments for alternate hymn verses, and for solo melodies for preludes, offertories and postludes.

The LARIGOT STOP is a special STOP, known as a MUTATION STOP, which is nearly always paired with an 8-foot stop, such as the 8-foot GEDECKT. The LARIGOT is actually a 1 1/3 CHIMNEY FLUTE, which means it sounds the fifth partial (or harmonic) of the fundamental pitch of the 8-foot CHIMNEY FLUTE. It sounds two octaves and a fifth higher than the fundamental. The LARIGOT combined with the 8 GEDECKT is an especially pleasing stop for solo melodies. I like to add the TREMOLO effect (the wind pressure in the chests is shaken) to produce a regular and repeated modulation of the volume and pitch.

All ranks of the House of Prayer Schlicker are enclosed in the SWELL BOX, except for the PRINCIPAL PIPES, SUBBASS PIPES, and the CHIMES. The PRINCIPAL PIPES are the pipes you see when you look at the organ cabinet from the pews. All other PIPES, except for the 16-foot SUBBASS PIPES (the lower extension of the GEDECKT FLUTE PIPES), are enclosed in a cabinet with wooden shutters, commonly known as a SWELL BOX. The organist controls the shutters of the SWELL BOX with a foot pedal called an EXPRESSION SHOE. When the shoe is fully depressed (the default position) the shutters are open wide, and when the shoe is retracted the shutters are closed. This allows the organist to vary the dynamics or volume of the sound of the instrument.

The CHIMES, which are tubular bells hanging on a rack and struck by an electric solenoid plunger, are, as a rule (depending on local customs), used sparingly during church services. I like to use the chimes, however, during the meditative Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God. I also use the CHIMES sometimes while improvising a prelude on a hymn tune.

The ZIMBELSTERN is used even more sparingly. In our organ, it is a set of eight bells with a diameter of about two to three inches arranged in a circle. When the organist activates the ZIMBELSTERN by depressing a toe stud, two metal strikers spin round and round, striking the bells and producing a pleasant tinkling sound. I find its magical quality especially appropriate for certain Christmas carols. It can also lend a festive touch to especially high praise hymn stanzas.

In conclusion, I would like to personally invite the reader to come and hear our Schlicker organ. Whenever you happen to be in Southern California on a Sunday morning, please visit. The clergy, staff and congregation of House of Prayer Lutheran—including the Rev. Dr. Daren Erisman, Pastor; Carol Gross, Director of Music; Kitty Wiebe, Youth Director; Darla Phelps, Office Administrator, and my humble self—welcome you!

Sincerely,

Henry Doktorski
Organist at House of Prayer Lutheran Church
October 31, 2017—the quincentennial of the Reformation

P. S. Special thanks to Rev. Dr. Daren Erisman, Carol Gross, and Dale Sorenson (an organist, organ builder and technician with L. W. Blackinton & Associates of El Cajon, California, who services the House of Prayer Schlicker organ) who encouraged me, assisted in research, and proofread my manuscript.

SOUNDFILES

Organ registration, or choosing the STOPS for a particular piece on a particular organ, is an art. It is something like a painter choosing colors for a painting. Each instrument normally has a very different palate of tone colors to choose from. The best registrations are balanced; one manual (or pedal) does not overpower the other manual (or the pedal). Registrations must be chosen with great care to present the composer’s music in the best possible light (or sound).

VIDEO

PHOTOGRAPHS

Figure 1: Herman Schlicker, founder of the Schlicker Organ Company.

Figure 2: Rev. Roger K. Hansen, pastor of House of Prayer Lutheran Church from 1984 to 1989.

Figure 3: House of Prayer parishioner and music lover, Inez Benson Madsen, contributed $50,000 towards the organ fund.

Figure 4: The House of Prayer Schlicker organ is beautiful visually as well as aurally.

Figure 5: The “white” keys of the manuals appear to be made of ebony and the “sharp and flat” keys are Rosewood.

Figure 6: The “white keys” of the pedal board are made of maple and the “black keys” are walnut. You can also see the SWELL shutter (volume) shoe and the ZIMBELSTERN toe stud.

Figure 7: Manual I STOP LIST.

Figure 8: Manual II STOP LIST.

Figure 9: Pedal STOP LIST.

Figure 10: The facade pipes are not simply for show, they are speaking pipes, the PRINCIPAL PIPES.

Figure 11: Henry, who began serving as organist at House of Prayer Lutheran on February 1st, 2017, says, “I really enjoy playing this beautiful instrument.”

Figure 12: The blower. Before electric motors, churches hired strong men to pump the bellows

Figure 13: Wind trunks transfer air under pressure from the blower to the wind chest.

Figure 14: House of Prayer Organ Technician Dale Sorenson peeks into the organ case work.

Figure 15: We enter the organ case work via the rear door panels.

Figure 16: There’s a lot of pipes crammed in here. Gotta watch where you step!

Figure 17: Those dark-colored wooden slats in the background are the SWELL SHUTTERS. Notice the “chimneys” attached to the stopper caps of the CHIMNEY FLUTE pipes. The TRUMPET PIPES are conical in shape—much like a megaphone. In the foreground is the three-rank MIXTURE. See how each note has three pipes lined up back to front in ascending size.

Figure 18: Here’s a good view of the SWELL SHUTTERS and some of the CELESTE and CHIMNEY FLUTE PIPES.

Figure 19: In the foreground are some TRUMPET PIPES.

Figure 20: The smallest pipes have a speaking length of hardly an inch or two. Note that the smaller pipes do not have the usual American system of tuning using metal collars on each pipe, but are rather “cone-tuned”—a more European style where the comparatively soft metal of the pipes is literally bent (coned) or flared out to effectively shorten the pipe (raise the pitch) or lengthen the pipe (flatten or lower the pitch).

Figure 21: From left to right—wooden GEDECKT BASSES, metal GEDECKT TREBLES, SALICIONAL TREBLES, TRUMPET BASSES.

Figure 22: The pipes are arranged according to rank and pitch, and accessibility for tuning and maintenance.

Figure 23: Dale Sorenson inspects the big SUBBASS PIPES.

Figure 24: The top portion of the SUBBASS PIPES, notes one through twelve.

Figure 25: The lower portion of the SUBBASS PIPES. You can see the mouths, the screwed-on caps which are removable for voicing and cleaning, the wood pipe toes with the brass handle for adjusting the interior gate valves—part of the initial voicing and regulating process. Organ visitors must be very careful to not move them!

Figure 26: 8-FOOT GEDECKT details.

Figure 27: The wooden SUBBASS PIPES and 8-foot GEDECKT BASS PIPES are stopped at the top. The handles sticking up make it possible to tune the pipes by moving the leather-gasketed stoppers up or down.

Figure 28: The REED PIPES have a phosphor-bronze rod called a Tuning Wire. Behind the REED PIPES is the pneumatic engine which moves the expression shutters. As the individual rubber-cloth bags are sequentially inflated, the motion is transmitted to the shutters, gradually closing them.

Figure 29: The lower part of the 16-foot TRUMPET PIPES.

Figure 30: More TRUMPET PIPES.

Figure 31: The tops of the TRUMPET PIPES resonators. The curled scroll of soft pipe metal is adjusted up or down as part of each pipe’s voicing and regulating process.

Figure 32: Some of the TRUMPET PIPES are mitered to conserve vertical space.

Figure 33: The CHIMES

Figure 34: Dale inspects the CHIMES. The electric striking mechanism is on top beneath the wooden dust protection cover. The cover is removable for maintenance.

Figure 35: The ZIMBELSTERN, viewed from the side.

Figure 36: The ZIMBELSTERN, from the top. The bells are actual MALMARK ™ hand bell castings. They ring clear and true without dissonant harmonics.