Database Manager on May 7th, 2017:
This entry describes an original installation of a new pipe organ.
<br>Identified by Steven Bartley, citing information from this publication: Daily Dispatch Richmond VA. 5/27/1874 pg1 & 6/5/1875 pg1.<br>Daily Dispatch Richmond VA. 5/27/1874 pg1<br>A New Organ for St. James- Church.- <br>Henry Erben, the noted organ-builder of New York City, has just been given an order to build a new organ for St. James' church, which he is under contract to complete and set up in the church by the 20th of December. The organ now in the church was built by Erben, some thirty-five years ago, and at that time was considered a good instrument; but it has, at last, succumbed to the wear and tear of time, and is now little more than the organic remains of its former self. The new organ will cost $3,500, and the composition of the instrument, selection of stops, &c., has been made with great care, and when finished will be one of the best in the city.<br>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Daily Dispatch, Richmond VA. 6/5/1875 pg1<br>THE NEW ORGAN OF ST. JAMES' CHURCH.<br>The new organ about to be in St. James's church was made by Henry Erben of New York, and is pronounced a splendid instrument. The case is twenty feet high, seventeen feet wide, and ten feet deep,and is simple in design, the principal ornament of the front being the thirty-one great illuminated pipes, all of which speak. There are two manuals and a pedal, and the scheme of the organ is as follows: Great-Open diapason, gamba, dulciana, stopped diapason, octave, fifteenth, mixture, trumpet; nine registers. Swell- Open diapason, stopped diapason treble, stopped diapason bass, violano, viol d'amour, cornet, vox humana, tremolo; eight registers. Pedal- Double open diapason, Bourdon; registers. Total, nineteen registers. There are also six mechanical couplers and composition pedals. Considering its size and price ($4,000), this instrument embraces a rather remarkable variety of stops, as well as a very useful selection of them. The two pedal stops, each of sixteen feet, are rich and majestic; the diapasons are full, clear, and mellow, giving excellent body; and several of solo stops deserve especial mention, among them a good trumpet stop, a fine gamba, and a very soft and expressive Viol d'amour.