Better Pipe Organ Database

M. P. Möller Opus 5577 (1929)

Notre-Dame-des-Canadiens Roman Catholic Church: Church
195 Church Street
Worcester, MA

Note: Not extant. Not playable. (in this location)

Images

1969 - Church interior from the organ console (Photograph from an archival source: Institut Français – Assumption University, Worcester, MA, submitted by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

1973 - The facade of the pipe chamber to the left of the rear rose window. Photo taken during a 1973 renovation of the organ (Photograph from an archival source: Institut Français – Assumption University, Worcester, MA, submitted by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

1969 - Organ in the rear gallery (Photograph from an archival source: Institut Français – Assumption University, Worcester, MA, submitted by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

Late 1950's - Post Card image of the church exterior and main altar (Photograph from an archival source: Institut Français – Assumption University, Worcester, MA, submitted by Stephen St. Denis/Stephen St. Denis)

Consoles

Main

Organ type: Traditional With Roll Top
3 manuals
28 stops
31 registers
4 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Stop Keys on Angled Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 32 notes
Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Meeting AGO Standards)
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Meeting AGO Standards)
Has crescendo
Combination action: Adjustable Combination Pistons
Has combination thumb pistons
Has coupler toe pistons
Has tutti toe pistons

Notes

2007-12-04 - Identified from factory documents and publications courtesy of Stephen Schnurr. -Database Manager

2012-07-19 - Updated through online information from Tim Remsen. -- Replaced by an electronic in the 1960s. -Database Manager

2014-01-28 - Church closed on July 1, 2008; buildings sold to a developer on October 4, 2010. -Database Manager

2020-04-27 - The church building was demolished and all the remaining facade of the Möller went down with the building. At the time of the demolition, an electronic instrument was present which also went down the with building. -Gavin Klein

2023-02-02 - From “A Parish Grows Around the Common – Notre-Dame-des-Canadiens 1869-1995” Gagnon, Richard L. Copyright 1995 - “In June 1982 Fr. (Theodore R.) Laperle appointed Louis Curran, Jr. the Music Director of Notre Dame Church. … he (Curran) was eager to have a good pipe organ to replace the fifty-three years old Moeller pipe organ which had become unplayable and irreparable. He proposed that the parish buy a second-hand pipe organ in upper New York State. An organ builder was hired to rebuild the organ in the parish hall. But he worked so slowly that after a year of rebuilding the organ was not completed and the task was soon abandoned. The purchase of an Allen organ in 1985 brought to a close a ten-year search to replace the old Moeller pipe organ that had become unusable a few years before. The choice was not a unanimous one since some parishioners had a strong preference for a pipe organ.” -Stephen St. Denis

2024-04-10 - Updated through online information from Michael J. Garceau: Sadly, this gorgeous church was closed, and razed in 2019. A three manual Allen Organ had replaced all the internal pipe work many years ago, All speaker cabinets were placed within the facades. Not much was salvaged. -Jim Stettner

Stoplist

Stoplist copied from the factory specifications Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded

       Worcester, Massachusetts
       Notre-dame-des-Canadiens R. C. Church

       Möller   Op. 5577   1929   3/30
       _________________________________________________

       GREAT (encl w/CH)             SWELL
    8' Open Diapason     61      16' Bourdon          61
    8' Montre            73 a     8' Principal        73
    8' Bourdon           73       8' Stopped Diapason 73
    4' Octave            73       8' Gamba            73
    4' Flute Harmonique  73       8' Vox Celeste      61
2 2/3' Quint             61       4' Violina          73
    2' Doublette         61       4' Flute Traverso   73
    8' Tuba              73     III  Cornet Mixture  183 b
       Tremulant                  8' Trumpet          73
       Sub                        8' Oboe             73
       Unison Off                 8' Vox Humana       73
       Super                         Tremulant
                                     Sub
       CHOIR                         Unison Off
    8' Diapason          73          Super
    8' Viole d'Orchestre 73
    8' Melodia           73          PEDAL
    8' Dulciana          73      16' Open Diapason    32
    4' Flute d'Amour     73      16' Bourdon          32
    2' Piccolo Harmonic  61      16' Gedeckt          SW
    8' Clarinet          73       8' Octave           12
       Tremulant                  8' Flute            12
       Sub
       Unison Off
       Super

    a  French Diapason, special scale
    b  12-15-17

   [Received online from Jeff Scofield January 29, 2014]

Documents

(1929-04-13) Factory Documentation Factory Documentation courtesy of the OHS Archive -Roman Lizak

Related Pipe Organ Database Entries

#63351 - R. A. Colby, Inc. (2006)