After more than two years of painstaking work, wood, tin and lead come together at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia, to create divine music, in the form of a brand-new pipe organ.
Ben Keseley, the church’s minister of music, said several years ago that the church had a pipe organ in place, but there was a problem.
“We had an old instrument here that was falling apart,” he said.
So after years of visiting churches that housed their own instruments, many created by working makers, the church selected Martin Pasi to design and build a two-story pipe organ of their own, entitled “Pasi Opus 28.”
Pasi said making design decisions for projects such as this is no easy task because the acoustics are different from church to church.
“It’s a decision that will be there for the rest of time, you know, in a way,” Pasi said.
Once Pasi was selected to take on the $1.2 million organ, his team got to work spending two years and tens of thousands of hours bringing the 12-ton organ to life. It’s a tedious task, with all of the parts created by hand, including 2,200 pipes, which range in height from half-inch to 16 feet tall.
Pasi said when building these organs, he’s never sure exactly how it will sound until it’s in place.
“Once we start making the pipes sound in the room, then it all of a sudden becomes a musical instrument with a soul,” Pasi said.
In typical pipe organs, the pipe extends up an entire wall, either at the front or back of the church. But at St. George’s, the white oak columns and lead and tin pipes are located at the center of the instrument, just shy of an ornate stained glass window which has been in place at the church for 70 years.
Pasi said in the woodwork there are also surprises, if you look close. One column includes a carving of St. George slaying a dragon, done by Pasi’s daughter.
Pasi also said this instrument has something many built today do not, a foot pumping system that allows the organ to work without power.
According to the church, instrument is inspired by Germany’s great 18th century organs and precisely designed to complement the size and acoustics of the church’s nave, or central area.
For Pasi, he said he hopes the organ’s beauty in both design and sound will be enjoyed by those who come to listen to it. He said finishing a project and then hearing the instrument he built played can be overwhelming for him.
“I don’t always kind of believe that I was the one that actually did it,” Pasi said.
Kola Owolabi, professor of Organ at the University of Notre Dame, was the first to hold a performance with the instrument, Friday night.
“This instrument shows influence of the 17th and 18th century organ building traditions at a time when pipe organs were probably the most complex invention that existed at the time,” Owolabi said.
The show included Brenda Portman’s “Aspects of Light,” which Owolabi said is inspired by St. George’s storytelling stained-glass windows.
Keseley said the church is excited to share the gift of this instrument with the D.C.-area community.
“We hope that this instrument inspires people, that its beauty inspires people for many, many generations,” Keseley said.
The instrument’s second performance will be the children’s “Dinosaur” concert, which will be held Saturday at 10 a.m.
