Government Street Presbyterian Church
Mobile, Alabama USA

After an in-depth study by a very thorough organ committee, it was decided that the old organ had so many problems that it would be better stewardship for the church to plan to purchase a new instrument. It was initially assumed that the new organ would occupy the same space as the old organ. William Gray of the Rieger-Kloss Company entered the scene rather late in the process and challenged the committee to look at the total music ministry to develop a plan of how the organ, choir and congregation could all relate musically together more effectively. The Estey had occupied the entire center gallery and the choir has had to sit off to the far side of the organ for all of the 95 or so years. There was no proper choir loft. Mr. Gray impressed on the committee that if they were ever going to correct this problem, this was the time to do so. He suggested that in order to make room for a rear choir gallery, the organ be located in three organ cases. The organ cases would be placed left and right of the center gallery, plus a very shallow division in the center, across the back wall. This was not only a time to purchase a new organ but to develop workable space for the Music Ministry of the church.

The Rieger-Kloss Pipe Organ Company of Krnov, Czech Republis, was selected to build the new organ for GSPC in January of 2000. Rieger-Kloss is one of Europe's oldest and finest builders of pipe organs, incorporated since 1873. However, the Rieger Brothers were building organs as early as the 1840s. They are unique in the industry in that they have a College of Organ Building, a four-year accredited degreed course. The school enrolls 12 students each year and if they all stay for the full four years, they have a maximum of 48 students enrolled. The company works to keep the best and brightest of these students and then they furnish most of the other major builders in Europe with their young craftsmen.

Although Rieger-Kloss is one of the largest builders of pipe organs in the world, it operates as a small company. Each organ is built by a team of Master Organ Builders, and in the case of Mobile there was an eight-member team who built this new instrument. They see the organ from its conception to its completion. They assemble the organ in the Rieger-Kloss shop erecting room to check out all systems. Although pipes are placed in the wind chest and played, they are only tuned, they are not regulated and tonally finished until they arrive in their permanent home. Tonal Finishing is one of the most tedious processes that goes on in the completion of a pipe organ. Each pipe of the over 3,000 pipes in Mobile had to be given a singing lesson in the GSPC acoustics.

Government Street Presbyterian Church, being a historical building, required a lot of attention to architectural details of the room. Marcel Kolarz was brought over from Europe to study the room and to design the organ cases developed around the master plan that Mr. Gray had set forth for this room. The three magnificent organ cases reflect numerous architectural details that Mr. Kolarz drew from the building. For instance, the columns in the organ case and the dentil design that forms the top moldings are all details of the existing room. All of the pipes seen in the façade of the organ cases are speaking pipes, made of 70% tin and 30% zinc - highly polished natural metal. The mouths of the pipes are gilded gold.

The specification for the organ and the physical layout as well as the console was carefully worked out with Terry Maddox, Minister of Music, the Organ Committee and the architect. In every detail consideration was given not only to the present needs but the long-term needs of the church.

The console (key desk where the organist plays the instrument) is four manuals (keyboards) with pedals. The outside cabinet of the console is white and the interior of the console is Walnut. The natural keys are highly polished Bone and the sharp keys are Walnut. The Pedal Board natural keys are made of White Rock Maple and the sharps of Walnut. The console is a state-of-the-art design with a very elaborate computer system to let the organist quickly recall stops he/she has programmed ahead. Pre-programmed stops can be recalled at will with the press of any one of the 80+ buttons at the organist's control. There are 200+ levels of memory to allow each button to be set 200+ times so many organists can use the organ without interrupting other organists' programmed settings. There is a system called a sequencer whereby the organist can program the pistons in the order programmed to avoid having to remember where each piston is located. This organ also has a playback system whereby the organist can record on a computer disc and what has been recorded can be played back with a flick of a button - the computer plays the organ exactly as it was recorded with all of the nuances that the organist has used. The four manuals of this organ represent different divisions - the Great Organ, the Positiv Organ, the Swell Organ and the Pedal Organ. In addition to this, the 4th Manual (top keyboard) represents a unique division in this organ. It is called the Grand Choir Resonance and there are very few of these divisions present in the United States. It is an idea that comes from the French School of organ building. The Grand Choir Resonance Division Manual plays the entire Pedal Division on the 4th Manual. A pedal board has 32 notes and a stop only requires pipes for these 32 notes. However, with the Grand Choir Resonance Division, each of those pedal stops is extended with the proper number of pipes to play the full 61 notes of the manual. This opens up many unique registration colors and is most valuable in service playing, especially offering a lot of alternate colors for accompanying hymns. It also gives a fabulous richness to the organ in playing French Toccatas and other large literature where the pitch line is high on the keyboard. The Horizontal Trumpet, known as a Trompette-en-Chamade, is a very special stop to solo large trumpet lines above the entire organ and to play fanfares.

The tonal finishing of the organ required a little more than six weeks. Daniel Angerstein, world famous Tonal Director, came to Mobile and set all of the "Cs" for the different ranks of pipes and Frantisek Kutalek and Tomas Fafilek matched the notes in between to the "Cs". The room is especially treble heavy, but has a very weak response to the bass harmonics. As a result, it establishes an extra special challenge for tonal finishers.

Other members of the Rieger-Kloss organ building team who built the Government Street Presbyterian Church organ were Zdenik Mican, David Vystrcil, Rostislav Kohoutek, Tomas Kusak and Miraslav Mitura.

The Rieger-Kloss organ at GSPC is designed especially for this building and for the musical needs of this congregation. It is unique and not another instrument exists just like this one. It was designed architecturally to look as if it were always a part of this lovely building and it is equally suited to the musical demands of the church. It is a quality instrument, and if well-maintained, will be here as long as the building is here and will meet the demands of musical growth of the congregation. May it always bring great inspiration to those who worship in this place.

Click here for the Stop List.