In 1833, St. Paul’s Burlington bought a ten rank organ from the Erben company for $900. Its first full time player, Theodore Molt was hired in 1838 for $100 per year. The bench then passed to a sister-in-law, three sons and one daughter of Bishop Hopkins; Charles Woodhouse; John Baker and S.C. Moore. In 1867 St. Paul’s installed a new Johnson Organ. Two years later, an influential parishioner of Grace Church Sheldon was able to acquire the Erben for $300.
At Grace Church, the organ made a joyous noise until the mid twentieth century when its last pumper, Horace Soule, was replaced by an electric forge blower. The instrument started its decline into silence. The building also deteriorated and for a time was actually condemned. In the 1980s the floor and roof were repaired, and in the 1990s the belltower was replaced with a smaller structure.
In 1999, Erik Kenyon was appointed music director and an organ restoration committee was formed. E.A. Boadway and Barbara Owen served as its unofficial advisors. Fundraising was through benefit concerts and grant applications. Restoration was carried out in accordance with Organ Historical Society standards. Erik played the church’s Estey Harmonium when he first arrived. Andrew T. Smith began work on the Erben in late 2000 and, along with A. David Moore, who performed the metal pipe work, completed the restoration of the organ in the summer of 2001.
Erik took the bench at the Erben that summer. A rededication was held August 10 and drew more than 90 people. Senior Warden Susan Palin officiated at the Service of Light. Bishop Thomas Ely presided over the dedication and delivered the homily, and the Reverend David Walters sang psalm 150. Following the rededication service, Erik and his teacher, Jack V. Austin, presented a program of works for organ, including an original composition by Mr. Austin entitled, “Mice!” Although Jack disputed the assertion that “We Three Kings” by John Henry Hopkins, Jr., must have first been played on the Grace Erben, he nevertheless contributed to the organ’s lore by weaving Hopkins themes together with another musical theme of three, “Three Blind Mice,” inspired by the discovery of three mouse skeletons in the base of the largest pipe during the restoration.
Filed under: Grace Church Sheldon |
Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT) 