Better Pipe Organ Database

Henri Lahaise (1968)

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Basilica (Mission Church)
1545 Tremont Street
Boston (Roxbury Crossing), MA

Images

2022-08-28 - Builders' nameplate (Photograph by Andrew Scanlon/Andrew Scanlon)

2019-07-22 - Left stopjamb (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2019-07-22 - Right stopjamb (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2019-07-22 - The view from the balcony down the nave (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2019-07-22 - Pedalboard, swell shoes, and toe pistons (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2019-07-22 - Manuals and couplers (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2019-07-22 - Console (Photograph by John Roper/John Roper)

2008-09-15 - Nave, Gallery, and Organ Case (Photograph by Len Levasseur/Database Manager)

Consoles

Main

Organ type: Traditional With Roll Top
Console position: Console in Fixed Position, Center
3 manuals
49 stops
54 registers
4 divisions
Key action Type: Electrical
Stop action Type: Electrical
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Vertical Rows on Angled Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 32 notes
Pedal Type: Concave Radiating (Details Unknown)
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Details Unknown)
Has crescendo
Combination action: Adjustable Combination Pistons
Has combination thumb pistons
Has combination toe pistons
Has coupler thumb pistons
Has coupler toe pistons
Has tutti thumb pistons
Has tutti toe pistons

Notes

2004-10-30 - The original builder was George S. Hutchings (1897, Opus 410). -Database Manager

2004-10-30 - Status Note: There 1995 -Database Manager

2004-10-30 - New slider chests. A new console was provided, though the bat-wing console still existed. The tonal work in consultation with Charles Fisk. Historic Organs Recital 22 Oct 1989. Additional modifications and tonal changes by Lahaise in 1997. -Database Manager

2009-08-31 - Posted to PipeChat August 30, 2009 by Dick Lahaise: -- The organ at Mission Church was built in 1897 by George Hutchings (Opus 410) Bob and Dick Lahaise of Jamaica Plain in consultation with Charles Fisk modified the action, extended the pedal compass to 32 and rebuilt the chests in 1968 and made further tonal reinstatements in 1997. (by which time Bob had died of cancer) Scott Huntington wrote in the OHS 2000 yearbook, "The 1968 rebuild of the Mission Church Hutchings aimed to give the organ a fluency in French and German Baroque music. More recent attention has endeavored to restore some of the opulent provision of eight foot tone found in the 1897 specification. The Great plenum and effective chorus reeds throughout the instrument remain essentially intact." -Database Manager

2017-11-24 - Updated by William Catanesye, who maintains the organ.<br> Pedal compass expanded from 30 to 32 in 1968 -Database Manager

Stoplist

Typed stoplist from the OHS PC Database. Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Mission Church, Boston (Roxbury), MA
Geo. S. Hutchings, Opus 410
1897/1968

* new pipework, 1968 (Lahaise)
+ moved or reworked

GREAT
    Double Diapason          16'
    Open Diapason             8'
    Doppel Flute+             8'
    Spitz Flute               8'
    Octave                    4'
    Chimney Flute*            4'

    Fugara                    4'
    Twelfth               2 2/3'
    Fifteenth                 2'
    Nighthorn+                2'
    Tierce*               1 3/5'
    Cymbal                  VII
    Mixture                   V
    Scharf                  III
    Posaune                  16'
    Trumpet                   8'
    Clarion                   4'

    Swell to Great   16', 8', 4'
    Choir to Great   16', 8', 4'
    Great to Great            4'
    Great Unison Off

CHOIR
    Gedeckt                   8'
    Principal                 4'
    Spindle Flute*            4'
    Octave                    2'
    Sesquialtera*            II
    Mixture*                 IV
    Cremona                   8'

Swell to Choir       16', 8', 4'
Choir to Choir       16', 4'
Choir Unison Off

SWELL
    Bourdon                  16'
    Diapason                  8'
    Gedeckt                   8'
    Viola                     8'
    Viola Celeste             8'
    Octave                    4'
    Koppel Flote*             4'
    Nazard*               2 2/3'
    Block Flote*              2'
    Tierce*               1 3/5'
    Larigot*              1 1/3'
    Mixture*              III-V
    Fagot                    16'
    Trompette                 8'
    Oboe                      8'
    Vox Humana                8'
    Shawm                     4'

Swell to Swell            16',4'
Swell Unison Off
Tremelo

PEDAL
    Bourdon                  32'
    Principal                16'
    Bourdon                  16'
    Violone                  16'
    Dulciana                 16'
    Octave                    8'
    Flute                     8'
    Cello                     8'
    Quint                 5 1/3'
    Super Octave              4'
    Flute*                    4'
    Flute*                    2'
    Mixture*                 IV
    Trombone                 16'
    Trumpet                   8'

Great to Pedal            8', 4'
Swell to Pedal            8', 4'
Choir to Pedal                8'
Pedal to Pedal                4'

Solo division on slider chest with pneumatic action. new slider chests were 
patterned directly from the Hutchings toeboards. A new console was provided, 
though the bat-wing console still existed. The tonal work, intended to brighten 
and expand the harmonic palette, was undertaken in consultation with Charles 
Fisk. New upper work was included in the swell, choir, and pedal divisions 
(mutations, mixtures, etc.). The reeds were revoiced to keep their fiery quality 
on lower pressure. Not all of the original pipework was incorporated, the most 
notable omissions being the solo tuba and the choir foundations. However, much 
of this pipework has stood in the original toeboards for the past 25+ years, 
awaiting the chance to sing again.

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