![Ernest M Skinner 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Ernest_M_Skinner_001.jpg)
Ernest Martin Skinner (January 15, 1866 – November 26/27, 1960) was an American
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...
builder. His
electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
Biography
Skinner was born in
Clarion, Pennsylvania
Clarion is a borough in and the county seat of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north-northeast of Pittsburgh and is part of the Pittsburgh DMA. Clarion was settled in 1839 and incorporated in 1841. In the past, the sur ...
, to touring concert singers Washington and Alice Skinner. His father organized a music company in
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount ...
and sang in a quartet in Taunton's Unitarian Church.
It was at this church that Skinner encountered his first organ. Skinner attended rehearsals, the performances of
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
, and
operettas
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
which stimulated his interest in music. He got a job as a
bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
pumper at fifteen cents per hour in Taunton's Baptist church where he had his first experiences repairing and constructing organs.
When he was a teenager, the family moved to
West Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...
, where he attended high school for six months. In his autobiography, he stated that the reason for leaving his schooling was his inability to understand
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, but Dorothy Holden in her biography: "''The Life and Work of Ernest M. Skinner"'' attributes it to the fact that the family fortune had declined and Skinner had to help support them.
He became a "shop boy" for George H. Ryder, a small organ builder located in
Reading, Massachusetts
Reading ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, north of central Boston. The population was 25,518 at the 2020 census.
History
Settlement and American independence
Many of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's original settler ...
. After four years he was fired, which led to his employment at the shop of preeminent
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
organ builder George Hutchings, following Ryder's foreman, Horace Marden, and voicer, William H. Dolbeer.
At Hutchings he worked first as a
tuner, rising to the post of factory superintendent during his twelve years with the firm.
In 1893 in Bethel, Maine, he married Bethel native Mabel Hastings.
The 1897 Hutchings organ at the
Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic basilica in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, sometimes known as "The Mission Church". The Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province have ministered t ...
in Boston drew national attention and acclaim for Hutchings, though he did not mention his young factory superintendent, Ernest Skinner, by name.
Skinner made the first of two public trips to England, crossing the Atlantic on a cattle steamer in 1898. Skinner was introduced to the work of
Henry Willis
Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in busin ...
, the London builder whose high-pressure chorus
reeds and tuba
'organ stop' set the benchmark for much of the 20th century. Skinner was given access to the large Willis organ at
St George's Hall, Liverpool
St George's Hall is a building on St George's Place, opposite Lime Street railway station in the centre of Liverpool, England. Opened in 1854, it is a Neoclassical building which contains concert halls and law courts, and is recorded in the Na ...
, and met privately with Willis, who tutored him in
voicing practices and techniques not yet known in the United States. Skinner then visited
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
where he met
Louis Vierne
Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...
, the blind
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
at
Notre-Dame in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. Upon his return to Boston, Skinner made his first pedal trombone modeled after the work of Willis for the 1900 Hutchings organ installed at
Boston Music Hall
The Boston Music Hall was a concert hall located on Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place.
One of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the ...
. The first documented instance of the Pitman windchest, as developed by Skinner, appeared in the 1899 Hutchings-Votey organ installed at the
Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, although some sources mention origins in Hutchings organs as early as 1893.
In 1901, Skinner decided to strike out on his own. In 1902, he entered into a partnership to form the Skinner & Cole Company with another former Hutchings-Votey employee. By 1904 the partnership had dissolved, and the Ernest M. Skinner & Company purchased the Skinner and Cole assets.
Organ development and design
Skinner was one of the first organ builders to try to establish a systematic method for providing fixed dimensions in his
organ console
The pipe organ is played from an area called the console or keydesk, which holds the manuals (keyboards), pedals, and stop controls. In electric-action organs, the console is often movable. This allows for greater flexibility in placement of the ...
s. Prior to this, each organ builder might use different dimensions on their consoles, causing problems with adapting to different layouts and positions of keyboards and pedalboards of different instruments, even by the same builder. Skinner worked to develop a set of universal distances between the various keyboards, determining the ideal placement of the pedal board, at a specific distance from the Great manual, as well as the placement of the various expression shoes and other mechanical devices, that have significantly contributed to the standard
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educat ...
(AGO) Console Measurements, in use in the United States since 1930.
Skinner consoles had fully adjustable combination pistons and
combination action
Registration is the technique of choosing and combining the stops of a pipe organ in order to produce a particular sound. ''Registration'' can also refer to a particular combination of stops, which may be recalled through combination action. The ...
s, decades before other American firms adopted similar devices. Access to pre-sets, to store and recall combination controls, on Skinner instruments, was located on numbered rows of buttons located between the keyboards.
Skinner is credited with the advancement of
electro-pneumatic action
The electro-pneumatic action is a control system by the mean of air pressure for pipe organs, whereby air pressure, controlled by an electric current and operated by the keys of an organ console, opens and closes valves within wind chests, allowing ...
, which controls the mechanical operation of the instruments. These huge (frequently several tons) and highly sophisticated devices were built of wood, leather, and metal organ parts, and used low-voltage DC current and low-pressure pressurized air to control and direct the switching and control commands. These actions allowed the pipework of the instrument to be located in any part of a building, while the console could be located hundreds of feet away, and allowing a single organist to have control over every aspect of the instrument.
Skinner developed numerous automatic playing mechanisms, which allowed an unskilled individual to operate a large pipe organ in a manner similar to a
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...
. This was a lifelong interest of Skinner, and he frequently worked in secret. The
Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
contains a fully restored Skinner instrument that uses a Skinner player action. In 1916, Skinner created and patented the ''Orchestrator'' player-relay mechanism.
The first of Skinner's new stops, the ''Erzähler'', appeared in 1904, and was soon joined by other tonal colors which Skinner worked on between 1908 and 1924, including flügel horn, and heckelphone. In addition to his orchestral color reeds, Skinner developed numerous string and hybrid
flue stops, many with matching
celestes. Among these were the ''Salicional/Voix Celeste'' and ''Dulciana/Unda Maris'' present in the Swell and Choir divisions of many American organs of the era, as well as his ''Flauto Dolce/Flute Celeste'', his ''Dulcet'' (a pair of very narrow scaled string ranks tuned with a fast beat to heighten the intensity), a pair of inverted-flare gambas found in the solo divisions of many of his larger organs that allowed a rich, 'cello-like timbre for solo lines in the tenor range, the ''Kleine Erzähler'', a softer, brighter version of his earlier ''Erzähler'' (which mimics the effect of string players playing very softly), as well as his ''Pedal Violones'' at 32' and 16' pitches which he defined as "subtle, soft string stops". Skinner is known for his imitative french horn stop, which is the only sonic creation that he patented.
His earliest designs, built out of his workshop in South Boston, were for
George Foster Peabody
George Foster Peabody (July 27, 1852 – March 4, 1938) was an American banker and philanthropist.
Early life
He was born to George Henry Peabody and Elvira Peabody (''née'' Canfield) as the first of four children. Both parents were New Eng ...
and for the Great Hall of
City College in New York.
Ernest M. Skinner & Company built large organs for
Old South Church
Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, (also known as New Old South Church or Third Church) is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles ...
in Boston,
Cathedral of St. John the Divine (op. 150, 1906); Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, Evanston, Illinois (op. 327, 1922);
Sage Chapel
Sage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State which serves as the burial ground for many contributors to Cornell's history, including the founders of the university: Ezra Cornell and A ...
at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
(op. 175, 1909);
Carnegie Music Hall,
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
(op. 180, 1910);
Appleton Chapel
The Memorial Church of Harvard University is a building on the campus of Harvard University. It is an inter-denominational Protestantism, Protestant church.
History Predecessors
The first distinct building for worship at Harvard University was H ...
,
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
(op. 197, 1912);
Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, New York (op. 205, 1913); Finney Chapel,
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
(op. 230, 1914),
Kirkpatrick Chapel
The Sophia Astley Kirkpatrick Memorial Chapel, known as Kirkpatrick Chapel, is the chapel to Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and located on the university's main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the United States. Kirkpatrick ...
at
Rutgers College
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
(Op. 255, 1916), and the
Brick Presbyterian Church, New York (op. 280, 1917).
In 1919, the Ernest M. Skinner & Company was reorganized with Arthur H. Marks (the former general manager and vice-president of the
Goodrich Rubber Company) as the president and Skinner as vice-president of the newly organized Skinner Organ Company. This allowed Skinner to focus on technical and artistic aspects, while others would manage the commercial aspects of the company. In 1924, at the behest of Marks and William Zeuch, another principal at the factory, Skinner made his second trip to England, this time meeting with Henry Willis III, the grandson of Henry Willis (Sr.), and spending time in France with
Marcel Dupré
Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.
Biography
Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...
learning about
mutation stop
An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as ''wind'') to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; each can be "on" (admitting the passage of air ...
s and chorus work of the French Romantic organ.
Declining success and sale of the Skinner Organ Company
The Skinner Organ Company built hundreds of pipe organs for customers all across the United States. The relationship between Skinner and the business managers of his company was rarely good, but by 1927 friction had built between Marks and Skinner. At the suggestion of English organ builder Henry Willis III,
George Donald Harrison joined the Skinner staff as assistant general manager in 1927. Initially, this was accepted positively by Skinner, and collaborations between Skinner and Harrison resulted in four Landmark Organs in the late 1920s. The first was built in 1928 for the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
at
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
, then two additional large organs, one for the
Chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, then another for
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
Rockefeller Chapel is a Gothic Revival chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. A monumental example of Collegiate Gothic architecture, it was meant by patron John D. Rockefeller to be the "central and dominant fea ...
at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. The final instrument was the rebuilding and expansion of the
Newberry Memorial Organ
The Newberry Memorial Organ is among the largest and most notable symphonic organs in the world. Located in Woolsey Hall at Yale University, the organ contains 197 ranks and 166 stops comprising 12,617 pipes.
The original Woolsey Hall organ was bu ...
, which is located in
Woolsey Hall
Woolsey Hall is the primary auditorium at Yale University, located on the campus' Hewitt Quadrangle in New Haven, Connecticut. It was built as part of the Bicentennial Buildings complex that includes the Memorial Rotunda and the University Comm ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. The Woolsey Hall organ is the largest instrument to bear the Skinner nameplate, and remains virtually unaltered. It is widely considered to be one of the finest "
symphonic organ
The symphonic organ is a style of pipe organ that flourished during the first three decades of the 20th century in town halls and other secular public venues, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has roots in 19th-century ...
s" in the world.
With the onset of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and coincident improvements in the recording and playback of electronically amplified music in larger public spaces, orders for pipe organs fell. The Skinner Company was forced to lay off workers and scale back production. The world of organ music and performance in the early 1930s had also begun to change. The orchestral style of instrument, which was the Skinner Company's specialty, had been falling from favor among many younger organists, who were looking for a more classical organ sound. Harrison, who had been working on the development of this new tonal direction for the company, was becoming more frequently requested as the designer and finisher of the limited number of available projects, while Skinner found himself being requested less. Many organists did maintain their loyalty to Skinner and insisted on his involvement.
The 1932 merger of the Aeolian Organ Company with the Skinner Company and the resulting change of the company name to
Aeolian-Skinner
Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866– ...
,
[Whitney, Craig R.]
''All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters''
PublicAffairs, Perseus Books Group, 2004. Cf
p.65
/ref> resulted in increasing tension between Skinner, Harrison, and Marks, as Skinner saw his technical and artistic influence at the company beginning to be diminished by the ascension of Harrison.
On July 14, 1933, Skinner was formally stripped of his titles and authority within the company by the Board of Directors of the Aeolian-Skinner Company, following his attempts to circumvent Harrison and influence the terms of the contract for the organ at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
The final instrument which was personally designed and finished by Skinner, though built by the Aeolian-Skinner factory, is the large organ at the Chapel of Girard College
Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon h ...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
(Opus 872 - 1933). It is installed in a spacious and highly resonant dedicated chamber, located above the ceiling, and above the floor of the 2,000+ seat chapel. Speaking down through a large ceiling grill and into the resonant acoustics of the chapel, even the softest voices of the instrument are clearly heard throughout the room.
As pressure increased within the Aeolian-Skinner Company, Skinner began to plan the formation of a new organ company with his son, Richmond Hastings Skinner, which he planned to call the Ernest M. Skinner and Son Organ Company, with intention to compete with the Aeolian-Skinner Company. Marks was able to persuade Skinner (with the help of Skinner's wife Mabel and his son Richmond) to instead enter into a five-year contract with the Skinner Organ Company that provided Skinner with an annual salary of $5,000 in exchange for the continued use of his name, but required that Mr. Skinner and his newly purchased interest in the Methuen Organ Company would not compete with Aeolian-Skinner in the construction of new organs, but rather "confine his work..." in the Methuen shop "...to the rebuilding of older pipe organs."
In January 1936, Skinner sold his interest in the Skinner Organ Company to purchase the property now known as Methuen Memorial Music Hall
Methuen Memorial Music Hall, initially named Searles Organ Hall, was built by Edward Francis Searles to house "The Great Organ", a very large pipe organ that had been built for the Boston Music Hall. The hall was completed in 1909, and stands at ...
in Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen () is a 23 square mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Middlesex County and just south of ...
, including the adjacent organ factory. Both had been built by Edward Francis Searles
Edward Francis Searles (July 4, 1841 – August 6, 1920) was an interior and architectural designer.
Biography
Searles was born on July 4, 1841, in Methuen, Massachusetts, US to Jesse Gould Searles (1805–1844) and Sarah (Littlefield) Searles. ...
to house and maintain the very large organ which was originally built for the Boston Music Hall
The Boston Music Hall was a concert hall located on Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place.
One of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the ...
in 1863. In the following years Skinner presented public performances of both choral and organ works with featured performers including Marcel Dupré
Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.
Biography
Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...
and E. Power Biggs.
Later years
In 1936, Skinner, and his son Richmond Hastings Skinner, were awarded the contract for what would be his final instrument, for the Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
. The instrument was dedicated in the fall of 1938, to wide national acclaim.
World War II and the resulting materials shortages and related financial troubles forced the company to file for bankruptcy on October 1, 1941. The Methuen Organ Shop burned to the ground on June 17, 1943; the adjacent Music Hall and its organ were saved.
In January 1947 Skinner joined the Schantz Organ Company
The Schantz Organ Company of Orrville, Ohio is a major, national builder and restorer of pipe organs. Their facilities are located in Orrville, Ohio, about 44 miles due south of Cleveland, Ohio.
History
The Schantz Organ Company was founded ...
in Orrville, Ohio.
In 1949, then in his eighties and almost completely deaf, Skinner retired from organ building completely.[Vitacco, Joe]
"Ernest Skinner a great American Artist"
He then began writing the book ''The Composition of the Organ'', which remained unpublished in his lifetime, and was completed and published by his son in 1980.
Skinner was always a prolific writer, with his letters penned to the editors of ''The Diapason
''The Diapason'' is a magazine serving those who build and play organs. Content includes concert and recital announcements, information on building and maintaining organs and profiles of notable organists.
As of July 2013, ''The Diapason'' reac ...
'' and ''The American Organist
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educat ...
'' appearing in those publications from the 1940s onward, wherein he worked to defend his tonal ideals, and attempted to regain lost territory on the American musical landscape. As early as the mid-1930s, Skinner saw many of his instruments rebuilt or modified beyond recognition, while others were simply removed and thrown out wholesale, in the name of "musical progress." Even three of the "Landmark Organs" mentioned in the previous section were subject to this trend, with modifications to the University of Chicago organ being carried out only a few years after its completion.
Not every organist felt obliged to follow the dictates of the "organ reform movement" and any discussion of Skinner would be incomplete without mentioning his extensive, informative and influential writings on the organ and its music, published in books and national journals over most of his career.
Following the death of his wife Mabel in 1951, Skinner entered a downward spiral from which he never recovered. The tonal revision of his earlier organs at St. John the Divine (op. 150, 1911), St. Thomas (op. 205, 1913) and his final large organ built for the National Cathedral all fell subject to this trend by the mid-1950s, further complicating his emotional state as he saw his life's work and ideals (and by extension, himself) gradually becoming extinct. Fortunately, in recent decades there has been a large resurgence of interest in restoring E. M. Skinner's instruments to their original condition. In many cases in which Skinner's pipework was replaced with more generic or baroque sounds, the Skinner pipework was put in storage, thus making it easier for the eventual rebuilding of his instruments to be restored back to their original tonal designs and sound. This has preserved E. M. Skinner's instruments for future generations of organists and listeners to experience his glorious instruments.
In 1956 he was living in Dorchester, MA. The final years of Mr. Skinner's life found him living in relative obscurity in California, having far outlived most of his contemporaries.
Skinner died during the night of November 26–27, 1960, at the age of 94, at the family home. He is buried in Bethel, Maine
Bethel is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,504 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of Bethel and West Bethel. The town is home to Gould Academy, a private preparatory school, and is near the Sun ...
, in his wife's family plot.
Bibliography/suggested reading
* ''The Life and Work of Ernest M. Skinner — Dorothy Holden'' published by The Organ Historical Society, 1985
* ''Stop, Open and Reed'' published by The Organ Historical Society, 1997
* ''All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters — Craig R. Whitney'' published by PublicAffairs a member of the Perseus Books Group
* ''The American Classic Organ: A History in Letters — Charles Callahan'' published by The Organ Historical Society, 1990
* ''The Modern Organ-- Ernest M. Skinner'' published by the H.W. Gray Co., 1917
*
The Composition of the Organ
', an organ building primer written by Skinner, originally planned for release in 1951, but completed by his son Richmond and released in 1981.
List of important E. M. Skinner organs
* Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA. 1906, Opus 127. (oldest surviving E.M. Skinner Organ in original condition)
* Trinity Cathedral (Episcopal) Cleveland, OH. 1907, Opus 140. Removed in 1997, pipework dispersed to several builders. New instrument created in 2021 by the Muller Pipe Organ Company, combining Aeolian-Skinner Opus 1188 (originally built for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Richmond VA) and Skinner Opus 245 (originally built for Church of the Transfiguration, Cleveland OH)
* Harvard Divinity School, Andover Chapel, Cambridge, MA. 1911, Opus 184
* Williams College, Grace Hall, Williamstown MA. 1911, Opus 195. Remaining pipework moved to Dunwoody United Methodist Church in Dunwoody, GA in 2019 and combined with another instrument
* St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York City (Manhattan) 1913, Opus 205. Rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1955, replaced by new instrument (Dobson) in 2018
* Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
, Finney Chapel, Oberlin OH. 1921, Opus 230. Rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1955, replaced by new instrument (Fisk) in 2001
* Church of our Father, Universalist (today: First Unitarian Universalist Church) Detroit, MI. 1925, Opus 232
* Municipal Auditorium, Portland OR. 1916, Opus 265. Moved to Alpenrose Dairy Opera House, Portland OR in 1971
* Grove Park Inn Hotel, Asheville, NC. 1919, Opus 295. Moved to First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD in 1929, destroyed 1961
* Civic Auditorium, St. Paul, MN. 1921, Opus 308. Moved to Old South Church
Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, (also known as New Old South Church or Third Church) is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles ...
, Boston, MA in 1985.
* Second Congregational Church (today: The United Congregational Church), Holyoke, MA. 1920, Opus 322
* St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Evanston, IL. 1922 Opus 327
* Public Auditorium
Public Auditorium (also known as Public Hall) is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The 10,000-capacity main auditorium shares its stag ...
, Cleveland, OH. 1922 Opus 328
* Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
, Garden Court, Cleveland, OH. 1922 Opus 333. Rebuilt by Holtkamp in 1933 and 1946, moved to Museum's new Gartner Auditorium in 1971
* Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City (Manhattan). 1923, Opus 408. Rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1970, removed in 2003, will be replaced by new instrument (Glatter-Götz/Rosales) in 2023.
/ref>
* St. John's Cathedral (Los Angeles), St. John's Episcopal Cathedral Los Angeles, CA. 1924, Opus 446
* California Palace of the Legion of Honor
The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which a ...
, San Francisco, CA. 1924, Opus 455
* Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, Detroit MI. 1924, Opus 475.
* Trinity Episcopal Church, San Francisco CA. 1924, Opus 477.
* Hollywood High School
Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California.
Histo ...
, Los Angeles CA. 1924, Opus 481
* Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco CA. 1924, Opus 497
* University Auditorium, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 1924, Opus 501. Rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1965 and by Möller in 1980 and 1992
* St. Ann's and the Holy Trinity Church
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal church located at the corner of Montague and Clinton streets in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.
History
The building was built as Church of the Holy Trinit ...
, New York City (Brooklyn). 1925, Opus 524
* Detroit Masonic Temple
The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple. Located in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the York Rite Sovereign College ...
, Scottish Rite Cathedral (today: Jack White Theater) Detroit, MI. 1925, Opus 529
* Trinity Episcopal Church, Gallery Organ, Boston, MA 1926, Opus 574
* Stambaugh Auditorium
Stambaugh Auditorium is located in Youngstown, Ohio in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Stambaugh Auditorium opened in 1926 through the generosity of Henry H. Stambaugh, one of the city's lead ...
, Youngstown, OH. 1926, Opus 582
* Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
, Toledo, OH. 1926, Opus 603
* Rockefeller Chapel
Rockefeller Chapel is a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. A monumental example of Collegiate Gothic architecture, it was meant by patron John D. Rockefeller to be t ...
, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. 1927, Opus 634
* Masonic Temple
A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting.
Development and history
In ...
, Dayton, OH. 1926, Opus 624
* St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York City (Manhattan). 1927, Opus 651. Used pipework from previous church building, expanded in 1927 and 1930, rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1937 (West Gallery) and 1953 (Chancel)
* Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, CA. 1927, Opus 676
* Woolsey Hall
Woolsey Hall is the primary auditorium at Yale University, located on the campus' Hewitt Quadrangle in New Haven, Connecticut. It was built as part of the Bicentennial Buildings complex that includes the Memorial Rotunda and the University Comm ...
, Yale University, New Haven, CT. 1928, Opus 722. Made extensive use of pipework from preceding Hutchings-Votey Organ (1902)
* Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, Toledo, OH. 1930, Opus 820
* Church of the Immaculate Conception, Philadelphia, PA. 1927, Opus 660. Removed in 1987 and relocated to Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
The Cincinnati Museum Center is a museum complex operating out of the Cincinnati Union Terminal in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It houses museums, theater, a library, and a symphonic pipe organ, as well as special traveling ...
* Dayton Art Institute
The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art mus ...
, Dayton, OH. 1929, Opus 749
* Old First Presbyterian Church, Columbus, OH. 1929, Opus 773
* Severance Hall
Severance Hall is a concert hall located in the University Circle section of Cleveland, Ohio. Opened in 1931, Severance Hall was named after patrons John L. Severance and his wife, Elisabeth Huntingdon DeWitt Severance, and serves as the hom ...
, Cleveland, OH. 1929, Opus 816
* Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church
Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., is a large, Gothic Revival-style church built in 1870 and located at Park Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in the city's Bolton Hill neighborhood. Named in memory of a Bal ...
, Baltimore, MD. 1930, Opus 839
* First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, CA. 1931, Opus 856.
* Girard College
Girard College is an independent college preparatory five-day boarding school located on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school was founded and permanently endowed from the shipping and banking fortune of Stephen Girard upon h ...
Chapel, Philadelphia, PA. 1931, Opus 872
* Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
, Washington, DC. 1938, Opus 510 (built by the E.M. Skinner&Son firm, this instrument replaced the two-manual Aeolian-Skinner Opus 883 from 1932. Rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1957, 1962 and 1964, further rebuilding by other firms in 1975 and 1988)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Ernest M.
American pipe organ builders
1866 births
1960 deaths
Methuen, Massachusetts
Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United States