Refurbished church organ to be dedicated

SWAMPSCOTT – The E.M. Skinner organ was built in Boston for the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. but it is now housed at The Church of the Holy Name in Swampscott, where it will be dedicated Sunday after years of restoration.Built in 1922, the Opus 368 replaced a small 19th century Hutchings organ. Even before the new organ was installed, several changes were made and the original plan was to re-use the existing speaking pipes in the Hutchings facade. Instead, a facade of non-speaking pipes was used and the Hutchings organ was donated to The Episcopal Church of Saint John the Baptist in Sanbornville, N.H., where it is still being used.Robert Torrey, the senior church warden and historian, said it became apparent in 1998 the Skinner organ at The Church of the Holy name would need a complete overhaul because it was in poor shape, which was due at least in part to a number of unsuccessful modifications over the years. Spencer Organ Company was selected to perform the restoration, which has taken 10 years to plan, finance and execute.The first phase of the project, which was only about one-third of the massive undertaking, was mechanical renovation, which was completed in 2002. It included cleaning of the organ and replacement of all the original leather parts including gaskets and valves.Torrey said Phase II of the $250,000 project consisted of replacing a lot of the organ pipes. He pointed out none of the Great pipes that were in place prior to the restoration were made by Skinner so many of the pipes were replaced with Skinner pipes made in the early 1920s.Torrey said the third and final stage of the restoration project was having the console put in place. In the 1960s the original Skinner console was replaced with an inferior contemporary model, which deteriorated rapidly and was in need of replacement. The Spencer Organ Company was able to locate a suitable Skinner console which was originally located at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The restored console was delivered to the Church of the Holy Name on March 1.The organ will be dedicated on Sunday at the 10 a.m. service, which will be followed at 4 p.m. with a concert featuring Douglas Major.Admission to the concert is $10 per person and tickets will be available at the door.From 1998 until 2002, Major was the organist and choirmaster at Washington National Cathedral. He currently resides in Rockport and is the Director of Music at St. Michael’s Church in Marblehead.Major toured as a soloist with the Orchestre National de France and he plays regularly with the Empire Brass Quintet.