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Church of Our Lady of Victory
(Roman Catholic)
583 Throop Avenue at McDonough Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216
http://fm2.forministry.com/Church/Home.asp?SiteId=11216OLOV
Established in 1868, the present Our Lady of Victory Church was dedicated on October 20, 1895, by Bishop Charles E. McDonnell amid much pomp and fanfare. The musical department consisted of several soloists, a chorus, an orchestra led by C. M. Wernig, and an organist named D. A. Meehan. There was a sung mass, a rendition of the “Veni Creator,” an “Ave Maria,” and two big numbers to bring the house down: Mendelssohn’s “Priests' March” and Meyerbeer’s “Coronation March.” The ceremony was to have taken place earlier in April, but was postponed because the Bishop was away in Rome. The rector, Rev. Father James Joseph Woods was appointed by the late Bishop Loughlin, who had laid the cornerstone shortly before he died. Rev. Woods can be seen in the beautiful stained glass window of the south transept, and his successor, Rev. McCabe is immortalized in the north.
The church, which was designed by Thomas Houghton, cost $160,000 to complete, and contains many original and beautiful details. The white marble altar, also designed by Houghton, was a gift from the president of the Emigrant Savings Bank, James McMahon; the tabernacle was given by Mrs. Cahill; the marble baptismal font was given by Dr .Sullivan. To ensure that he wouldn’t be outdone, the bank president also donated a solid gold chalice and a white silk cape “embroidered in rich designs.” The Stations of the Cross were made in Munich, and the painting and decorations were done by Baraldi, a famous painter based in Philadelphia. Six years later, in 1901, an elaborate new pulpit (since removed) was ordered from the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of Corona. The south transept contains a shrine to Our Lady of Montserrat. |
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Reuben Midmer & Son
Brooklyn, N.Y. (1895)
Tubular-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 42 ranks
Prior to the formal church dedication in 1895, a pipe organ of three manuals was placed in the church by the Brooklyn-based firm of Reuben Midmer and Son. As the organ was being installed, this article appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
February 24, 1895 “PUTTING IN A NEW ORGAN. A Fine Instrument for a Great Church Edifice. In the new Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Victory, on McDonough street, the Rev. James J. Woods, pastor, is just being placed a new organ of the first magnitude, made by Reuben Midmer & Son of this city. The organ stands in the west end gallery of the church, surrounded by a handsome case of heavy natural finished birch and showing richly decorated front pipes. The space occupied is thirty feet wide by eighteen feet deep and reaching a total height of forty-five feet.
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The organ will be, when complete, a three manual instrument, compass from CC to A3 and pedals of thirty notes, compass from CCC to F. It will contain 2,312 pipes, 38 speaking stops, 7 couplers, 9 combination pedals and 4 mechanical accessories. It is built on the pneumatic principal throughout. The manual key action may be described as an inside or chest pneumatic. The main feature of the organ is, of course, the tone, which is exceedingly rich and full. Every variety and color of tone is well represented, the different qualities of diapason, flute, string and reed being beautifully balanced and blended, while each stop retains its own peculiar character to a very marked degree. The tone of the full organ is exceedingly full and massive and free from all harshness. The voicing was the personal work of Mr. Reed Midmer, and was the subject of much care and study. The wind supply is furnished by a large bellows fitted with five square feeders, which insures a copious supply of steady wind under all conditions. The action of the bellows is rotary and consists of steel shafts and cranks. The power is derived from a 2 horse power C. & C. electric motor placed in the gallery beside the organ. The largest is of sufficient size to admit of a man crawling through it and a number of tons of tin and lead was used in making the metal pipes. When the screws were taken out of the organ they were found to fill a bushel basket. An organ recital will be given on the evening of March 19.”
Although no review of that March 19th recital could be found, several concerts were given at which the organ was featured. These were reported by the local press, namely the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the weekly New York Catholic News, which appeared each Sunday for a price of 3 cents! Some examples from the latter’s “The News From Brooklyn” section follow:
Sunday March 24, 1895
“The fine organ which has been placed in the new Church of Our Lady of Victory, Throop avenue and McDonough street, was opened by an elaborate recital on Tuesday evening. R. Huntington Woodman, organist; Louise Gerard Theis, soprano; and Carl Venth, violinist were the artists on the occasion.”
Sunday April 7, 1895
“On Sunday evening, April 7, the choir of the Church of Our Lady of Victory, Throop avenue and McDonough street, will render selections from Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” and Mercadante’s “Seven Last Words,” assisted by Mrs. W.G. Bullard and Miss Jennie Figgis, sopranos; Miss Lillian Browne, contralto; Mr. Charles Stuart Phillips, tenor; Mr. John H. Haaren, basso, and a string quartette directed by Edwin Clarke. Mrs. Lucie E. Campbell is organist. Mrs. Bullard will sing the “Inflammatus,” Miss Figgis and Miss Browne the “Quia est Homo,” Mr. John H. Ling the “Cujus Ammam,” and Mr. John Haaren the “Pro Peccatia.” First word, “Father, Forgive Them,” soprano solo, by Mrs. Wm. Galt Hill. “Woman, Behold Thy Son!” duo, by Mr. J.F.R. McMahon and Mr. William Fitzpatrick; tenor solo, “I Thirst,” Mr. McMahon; baritone solo and chorus, “It Is Finished!” Mr. George Haynes and chorus”
Sunday April 14, 1895
“…The excellent qualities of the new organ were admirably brought out by Mrs. Lucie E. Campbell…The church was crowded and the impressive music was much enjoyed.”
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Reuben Midmer |
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Reed Midmer |
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This Midmer organ is truly a unique piece of American organ-building history. The founder of the Midmer organ firm, Reuben Midmer, was English by birth. He operated his shop in Brooklyn from 1860 until he retired in 1888. By then his son Reed Midmer had been running the firm for several years under the name “Reuben Midmer and Son”. At the time the Victory organ was built, the Midmers had a three-story factory at 97 Steuben Street which extended to Schenck Street. They employed 20 people and the machinery was steam-powered. Our organ is one of twelve three-manual organs listed in the 1917 “A Partial List of Midmer Organs” compiled by Reed Midmer a year before his death. It is amazing that this (incomplete) list details well over 300 installations, yet the name Midmer is given only passing reference in histories of American organ building. Midmer organs were installed in every corner of the continental U.S. Reuben Midmer died late in 1895. The Midmers are buried in the family plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
It is unusual to find an organ original to a church of such age, but doubly unusual to find one more or less as it was installed. There are several Midmer organs still located in Brooklyn, but none is remotely in its original condition: St. John the Baptist (unplayable), St. Bartholomew’s (much altered) and Congregation Beth Elohim (much missing pipework), to name just three.
A bit of the maintenance history can be pieced together from inspection of the instrument. There is reason to believe that the console was originally attached to the case, but was shortly thereafter moved to accommodate new risers for the choir. The earliest note penciled on a wooden beam inside the organ reads:
“William Midmer + Geo Dewar, Aug 8, 1900.”
The only major service which can be accounted for was a releathering of the wind reservoir (actually a patching from the inside) in 1948, done by F.J. Lloyd of Elmhurst, who left his business card:
“ORGAN CRAFTSMAN Veteran E.T.O. World War II”
Apparently this service made it possible for the Oratorio Society of New York (T. Charles Lee, director) to use Our Lady of Victory and its organ as a concert venue for two years. According to old timers in the parish, including Edna Jordan, long-time director of the choir, the bellows had again given out, and the organ was silent by the late 60s. In the intervening decades, it took on mythic proportions…“Back in the old days you could hear it all the way over on Fulton…”
Over the course of 100 years, the Victory organ had miraculously escaped any kind of change, good or bad. That is why it was such an attractive restoration project to Father Carter, whose vision it was (and is) to return the church to its glory days. After rejecting earlier proposals, some of which included major alterations, he chose the partnership of David Schmauch and Donald Schwing in the fall of 1997 to restore the organ to its original condition. They promised to have some of the organ working by Christmas. Completing the project was to take the better part of two years.
The wind reservoir (a huge bellows measuring 7’ x 14’ ) had to be releathered first. All stop action pneumatics were rotted, but with the wind working, the organ would speak if the sliders were to be moved into the on position manually. So for Midnight Mass 1997, the organ sounded once again, playing one hour of carols using 5 ranks which were ciphered on in the Swell Division.
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Pipes
of Great Division |
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All stop actions were restored to their original conditions, as were the key actions of the Great, Choir and Pedal. A new 4’ x 4’ reservoir was installed for the Swell, which was not getting enough air from the main bellows.
The 8’ Trumpet and 4’ Clarion of the Great reed chorus were restored by Trivo Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, as was the Vox Humana of the Swell. The Great reeds were the only pipes anywhere in the organ to sustain any major damage.
Much pipe voicing had to be done to bring the instrument up to A440, and all of the wooden pipe stoppers were releathered. Each of the 2,312 pipes was cleaned, as were the chambers and chests. The toe boards were removed to adjust sliders. Two tremolos were rebuilt.
Coupler pneumatics in the console were re-leathered. The console cabinet was refinished and the roll-top was rebuilt. New pedal caps were hand-made from New Hampshire oak.
The Organ Historical Society awarded its distinguished Historical Citation No. 288 in recognition of the Reuben Midmer & Son Organ as an outstanding example of organbuilding and worthy of preservation. |
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Great Organ (Manual II) – 58 notes
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16 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
2 |
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Super Octave |
58 |
8 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
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Mixture III |
174 |
8 |
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Viola di Gamba |
58 |
16 |
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Trumpet |
58 |
8 |
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Doppel Flute |
58 |
8 |
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Trumpet |
58 |
4 |
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Octave |
58 |
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Choir to Great 8 |
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4 |
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Flute Harmonique |
58 |
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Swell to Great 16, 8, 4 |
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2 2/3 |
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Quint |
58 |
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Great to Pedal |
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Swell Organ (Manual III) – 58 notes, enclosed
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16 |
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Bourdon |
58 |
2 |
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Flageolet |
58 |
8 |
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Open Diapason |
58 |
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Cornet III ranks |
174 |
8 |
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Salicional |
58 |
16 |
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Contra Fagotto |
58 |
8 |
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Aeoline |
58 |
8 |
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Cornopean |
58 |
8 |
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Vox Celeste |
58 |
8 |
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Oboe |
58 |
8 |
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Stopped Diapason |
58 |
8 |
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Vox Humana |
58 |
4 |
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Principal |
58 |
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Swell to Pedal |
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4 |
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Flauto Traverso |
58 |
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Tremulant (On/Off
buttons in key cheek) |
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Choir Organ (Manual I) – 58 notes, enclosed
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8 |
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Violin Diapason |
58 |
2 |
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Piccolo |
58 |
8 |
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Dulciana |
58 |
8 |
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Clarinet |
58 |
8 |
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Unda Maris (TC) |
46 |
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Swell to Choir 8 |
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8 |
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Melodia |
58 |
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Choir to Pedal |
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4 |
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Violina |
58 |
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Tremulant (On/Off
buttons in key cheek) |
4 |
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Flute d'Amour |
58 |
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Pedal Organ – 30 notes
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16 |
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Open Diapason |
30 |
8 |
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Violoncello |
30 |
16 |
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Bourdon |
30 |
16 |
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Trombone |
30 |
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Sources:
Schmauch, David. "The Organ at Our Lady
of Victory Church, Bedford-Stuyvestant, Brooklyn".
Illustrations:
Bourke, Rasaan H. Stop keys of
Reuben Midmer & Son organ console; view toward gallery.
Schmauch, David. Interior and
organ photos.
Postcard (1907). Exterior. |
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