History of the Organ

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For 40 years, the congregation of the National Presbyterian Church has listened in wonder to the sound of the John Jay Hopkins Memorial Organ during worship and festive occasions. For them, the Hopkins organ is a "National" treasure, a magnificent instrument gladly shared with the urban community. In that spirit, this sanctuary provides the setting for performances by many prominent local artists and ensembles as well as touring groups and the church’s own musicians.

These events fulfill the vision of the leaders who planned the design and construction of The National Presbyterian Church and Center. In the 1960s, they contracted with the AEolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston to build a grand organ for the main sanctuary. As the walls rose, so did a two-story organ chamber behind the chancel choir loft, designed to house 6,000 pipes. A cloth screen was all that separated the pipes from the sanctuary, allowing the organ to speak directly down the axis of the nave. The sanctuary became part of the instrument.

Given by Mrs. John Jay Hopkins in memory of her late husband, founder and first president of General Dynamics and a pipe organ enthusiast, the organ was dedicated in 1970 with recitals by Ernest Ligon, Simon Preston, Clyde Holloway and Aldis Lagzdins.

William Neil is now the organist of the National Presbyterian Church, as well as organist and harpsicordist of the National Symphony Orchestra and National Philharmonic. Since his arrival at National in 2001, Mr. Neil has made it a priority to record the Hopkins organ. His first CD, A Festive Proclamation, was released in 2005 and cited by Gramophone magazine as one of the ten best classical CDs of that year. Solo recordings of hymns, anthems and seasonal music of the church year include Noël, He is Risen, and Amazing Grace. With the Washington Symphonic Brass, he performed the Organ Symphony No. 3 by Camille Saint-Saëns. With Steven Hendrickson, Principal Trumpet of the National Symphony Orchestra; pianist Myriam Avalos-Teie and Carole Libelo, English horn, Neil recorded works for trumpet and organ on the MSR Classics label. (You can order copies of these and more recordings here).

Church planners had requested a Solo division from AEolian-Skinner. Their former church, razed to make way for Washington's expanding business district, had a four-manual Möller organ with a Solo division. But the AEolian-Skinner Organ Company - then the most prominent among North American organ builders — was not building Solo divisions. Orchestral characteristics were no longer in vogue in the 1960s. Instead, American organ builders worked for a sound that was less romantic, more suited for interpreting music of the Baroque.

During the tenure of organist Ernest Ligon, the first Solo stop was installed in 1989 by the organ's new curators, the Di Gennaro-Hart Organ Company. It was a vintage 1932 AEolian-Skinner English Harmonic Tuba, found in the Tudor-style mansion of William Corby (inventor of sliced bread!) that still stands on Chevy Chase Circle near Washington, DC.

Fifteen years later, William Neil and curator Michael Hart set out to build a complete Solo division. From the outset, they agreed that the pipes had to be from Ernest M. Skinner, the man who had created the best orchestral pipes early in the 20th century and had merged his company with AEolian during the Depression. But the renewed popularity of Solo divisions made their search challenging. With Tonal Director Lawrence Trupiano, they eventually located ten Skinner stops in Connecticut. Among them were a prized Orchestral Oboe, a Dolcan Gamba and Dolcan Gamba Celeste, offering their promise of warm string tone. There, as well, they found a Clarinet to add to the Choir division. In Ohio, they located a second Tuba and a French Horn made by Skinner in 1923 for a residence organ near Toledo. Their new acquisitions were sent to A.R. Schopp's Sons in Alliance, Ohio, for restoration work. Afterwards, the pipes were hand-delivered to companies for cleaning, finishing, and voicing—the flutes to the Mann & Trupiano firm in Brooklyn and the reeds to Samuel C. Hughes in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Meanwhile, new 16' and 8' Trumpets for the Great division were ordered to replace an older and smaller set (8' and 4') that Neil and Hart believed took away from the gravitas of the organ. The console, with five keyboards — four manuals and one pedal — had been expanded and rebuilt in 1987, with room provided for extra drawstops. Now the console was ready to receive them.

Additional electrical work was required as well. In 2003, the organ's entire electrical system had been replaced with a Solid State Organ Systems relay. The switching system, modular in design, was expanded for the extra outputs of the Solo division and Choir Clarinet.

The organ now consists of seven divisions. Six are located in the organ chamber above the chancel choir loft. The Swell division is on the lower left side and the Choir is on the lower right. Centered between the two is the Great, with the Positiv above it. The pipes of the Pedal division sit above the Swell enclosure, behind the Great and the Positiv. The Solo division is on the upper right side of the organ chamber, above the Choir. The Antiphonal organ, with its own Pedal division, is visible in the balcony, with the State Trumpet mounted on the front, its pipes projecting into the nave.

Most of the organ speaks on low wind pressure, but the State Trumpet is voiced on ten inches of pressure. A new blower was custom built in Germany to support the Solo division and the new Choir Clarinet and was installed beside the main blower, located a floor beneath the console. An additional wind pipe, 10 inches in diameter, now runs from the blower room, through several walls and a staircase enclosure to the organ chamber, reaching past the Choir to the Solo division, a distance of more than 50 feet.

The pipes, restored and voiced, arrived back in Washington, DC, in late 2009 and Lawrence Trupiano began the meticulous job of tonal finishing. In June 2010 the work was completed a few weeks before two recitals were scheduled to take place at the church during the American Guild of Organists National Convention, held that year in Washington, DC. In October 2010, the Solo Division of Opus 1456 made its public debut with a concert of music from four centuries. The John Jay Hopkins Memorial Organ, now enhanced to 115 ranks and 7,000 pipes, is here to enjoy now and for years to come.

Authors:  Jim Anderson, Jan Childress 2010