Parish Orchestra

St. John Choir

The St. John Choir sings weekly for the 9:30 am Sunday Mass. The choir's repertoire spans the centuries, employing chant to the most contemporary choral works.

The choir rehearses on Wednesday from 7:30 - 9:00 pm. If you are interested in joining, please call Michael Dailey at (513) 777-6433, ex. 128.

St. John Praise Team

St. John Praise Teams play at the 5 pm and Sunday 11:30 am Masses.

The music at these Masses is more contemporary, employing piano, synthesizer and drums.

Praise team rehearsals are Thursdays from September - May at 7:00 pm.

For more information about joining our praise teams, call Michael Dailey at (513) 777-6433, ex. 128.

St. John Youth Chorus

Saint John Youth Chorus

Founded in 2003 by Michael Dailey, the St. John Youth Chorus sings for one Mass a month, for the Breakfast in Bethlehem Christmas Pageant, Christmas and Easter Masses, and other events throughout the year.

Youth Chorus is open to singers in grades 3 - 8.  Rehearsals are Mondays from 5:30 - 6:30 pm from September (first Monday after Labor Day) - May.  A voice test for each chorister is required prior to joining the group.  Please call Michael Dailey at (513) 777-6433, ex. 128 to arrange a voice test. 

Upcoming Events for 2008 - 09

October 2008: CD Recording: A Child is Born

July 2009: Pueri Cantores / National Pastoral Musicians Choral Festival, Chicago, IL

History

A History of the St. John Organ

by David E. Wallace

 
During the second half of the 19th Century and the first part of the 20th Century, the E. & G. G. Hook and later the Hook & Hastings Company delivered 21 pipe organs to the Greater Cincinnati area. The first was a 2 manual E & G. G. Hook Opus 234 in 1858 for the Central Presbyterian Church. The last was Hook and Hastings Opus 2569, a 3 manual organ delivered in 1929 to St. Joseph's RC Church. Perhaps the most notable was the 4 manual 90 rank E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Opus 869 built for the Cincinnati Music Hall.

In 1996, nearly 70 years after the arrival of the last Hook organ, St John the Evangelist Church in West Chester was about to bring yet one more Hook and Hastings organ to the Cincinnati area when they purchased Opus 2173 from the Bangor, Maine Universalist Church. The organ was to be renovated and installed in the new St John Church. The façade of Opus 2173 was incorporated into the design of the new church and plans were made for the renovation.

On Palm Sunday 1998, St John Parish turned the first soil for the construction of their new building. On that very same day, the parish of St Michael in the Lower Price Hill section of Cincinnati held their final service as that church was to be closed and combined with Holy Family. St. Michael's church held one of the remaining Hook and Hastings organs in Cincinnati. Opus 1782, installed in 1898, was about to join the forgotten ranks of many of the other fine Hook organs that once graced churches, private homes and the grand music hall in Cincinnati.

Word soon got around to Jim Pera, organist at St John that the old organ might be available. It was visited and while found to be a rough condition suffering the ravages of time, Mother Nature and misguided maintenance, it was deemed restorable. Despite having to gasp for breath and having lost an essential part of it's key action, it was still able to show the pallet of tonal colors that lay hidden beneath the grime and indicate to all that restoration to its former grandeur was indeed a possibility enabling a renewed life and the chance for the organ to remain in the Cincinnati area.

Opus 1782 was also purchased by St John's and plans were made to disassemble and move the organ to the shop of restorationist David Wallace & Company in Gorham, Maine. But, the grand façade Opus 2173 had already been well incorporated into the plans for the new St John Church. Since both organs had been built by the same company, the solution was to simply do a façade transplant! The elegant case of the Bangor organ was mated to the functional aspects of the St Michael organ. The result incorporated the historic St Michael's mechanical action organ with the handsome Victorian case from the Bangor organ.

The St Michael organ was in rough shape at the time it was removed from the church in August of 1998. The tower above the organ had leaked many times over the century the organ stood in the church causing considerable damage to the Great division windchest and pipes. The leather on the reservoir had most likely given out so the original wind reservoir and bellows were chopped up and discarded in favor of an under-sized supply house regulator. The pneumatic assist mechanisms that helped make the bottom two octaves of keys for each manual keyboard easier to play were also chopped out of the organ and replaced with cardboard patches and lengths of copper electrical wire. The keys at the low end of the keyboards were almost impossible to play. Soot, dust, dampness, and even urine in one corner of the organ left the poor old instrument with just enough life to make one glorious final presentation to St Michael's parishioners and friends on the day before it was taken down and shipped to Maine.

The estimated 15,000 or so pieces of the organ were given detailed attention. Each part was cleaned, if it was broken it was mended and the missing parts were replaced duplicating the originals. Every attempt was made where possible to use original Hook & Hastings parts. The missing key action pneumatics were copied from Opus 1801 in Taunton, Massachusetts which was built in the same year as St Michael's organ. The dimensions of the missing wind reservoir were plotted out from screw holes on the floor frame and from the positions of the wind trunks in the organ. The feeder bellows were also duplicated so that the organ could once again be hand pumped. The heavily worn down key ivories in the middle octave of each keyboard were replaced with the only available legal source of ivory today— 10,000 year old Mastadon tusk ivory from Siberia.

The pipes were all carefully cleaned and adjusted to play at the original pitch. The stoppers in the wooden pipes were releathered for a snug fit and the reed ranks were carefully cleaned so the brilliance and fire would again be present. The quarter sawn oak Bangor case was stripped and refinished to match the color scheme for St John's. The huge façade pipes were also repainted to match the decor.

The only change made to the organ was a "non-intrusive" addition of a 16' Trombone stop to the Pedal Division. The Pedal section has two very deep stops and one soft string stop. The Trombone was judiciously added to lend a range of harmonic color and support to the Pedal stops. The windchest, key action and stop action for the Trombone required no alteration of any of the existing parts of the St Michael organ to be added.

The Bangor organ along with the façade from the St Michael organ are in storage awaiting a new home. It could very well be that the pipe organ—equally as grand as the St Michael organ, could indeed become the 22nd Hook & Hastings organ in the greater Cincinnati area if the right church realizes the need!

Organ Repertoire

April 27

Prelude: O Filii et Filae (Jeanne Demessieux)

Postlude: Fanfare (John Cook) 

May 4 - The Ascension of the Lord (celebrated on Sunday in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati)

Prelude:  L'Ascension, Movt. IV (Olivier Messiaen)

Postlude:  Incantation pour an Jour Saint (Jean Langlais)

May 9 @ 7:30 pm - Organ Concert: Matthew Phelps

Music by Ives, Bach, Buxtehude, Barber and others... 

May 11 - Pentecost

Prelude: Veni Creatur (Libby Larson)

Postlude: Toccata on Veni Creator Spiritus (Maurice Durufle) 

May 18 - Trinity Sunday

Prelude: Prelude on NICEA (Johannes Michel)

Postlude: Heraldings (Robert Hebble) 

Stoplist

Swell Organ (Under Expression)

16’ Bourdon

8’ Open Diapason

8’ Salicional

8’ Aeoline

8’ Stopped Diapason

4’ Flute Harmonique

4’ Violina

2’ Flautino

III Dolce Cornet

8’ Cornopean

8’ Oboe

Tremolo

Great Organ

16’ Open Diapason

8’ Open Diapason

4’ Octave

8’ Dulciana

8’ Viola da Gamba

8’ Doppel Flute

4’ Flute d’Amour

3’ Twelfth

2’ Fifteenth

III Mixture

8’ Trumpet

Swell to Great

Pedal Organ

16’ Trombone

16’ Open Diapason

16’ Bourdon

8’ Violincello

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal