Name/Title
The Golden Age of the Organ in Manitoba: 1875-1919Description
The history of organs in Manitoba is a neglected aspect of the musical, cultural, and church history of the province. A 45-year period around the turn of the century was the “Golden Age” of the organ in Manitoba. More than one-third of all the known pipe organ installations in the province up to the present occurred in this period, many of them in newly-constructed churches. Both the instruments and the recitals played on them were matters of intense public interest. The installation of a new church organ was not only a matter of pride and celebration on the part of the congregation, but it was also a significant event in the musical life of the community. This article presents a brief chronicle of the organ—the instruments, the builders, and the players during this period of slightly more than four decades.
Religious Denominations and Historic Churches
Within fifty years after the displaced tenant farmers from the north of Scotland had arrived in Manitoba’s Red River district between 1812 and 1814, many of the major religious denominations, now well established, had built their first churches. The first Roman Catholic churches were constructed in 1819 and 1822, followed by a series of cathedrals completed in 1833, 1862, and 1908. The Anglicans, whose religion was brought to the country by missionaries and employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company, built their first Church Mission House in 1822, followed by several other churches along the rivers, including St. Andrew’s on the west bank of the Red River in 1849 and St. James on the north bank of the Assiniboine River in 1853. Holy Trinity, Fort Garry’s first Anglican church, was opened in 1868. The Presbyterians erected Kildonan Presbyterian Church on the northern outskirts of the settlement in 1851; the first Knox Church was established at a more central location in 1868, succeeded by larger buildings on other urban sites in 1884 and 1917. Other Presbyterian congregations constructed places of worship in various sections of the city: St. Andrew’s in 1882, Augustine in 1887 and 1904, and Westminster in 1912. The Methodists founded their first mission at Red River in 1868; their first Grace Church was dedicated in 1871, enlarged in 1877, followed by a new building in 1883; the Wesley congregation established their first church buildings in 1883 and 1898. The Congregationalists arrived in 1879 and erected their first church building in Winnipeg in the early 1880s, followed by a second in 1890.
Music in the Churches
The place of music in religious worship varied according to the denomination. Music was not readily accepted throughout the country by the Presbyterians, for they did not allow organs or hymns; the only singing was metrical psalms, later supported by a bass viol or flute. This situation continued until 1872, when their General Assembly decided to permit the use of organs. In Manitoba some members of the Kildonan Presbyterian Church congregation objected to the introduction of a choir and to the idea of having an organ. In a debate on these issues, one parishioner announced that if an organ were put in the church he would bring around Old Bob, his horse, “and take the ‘kist o’ whustles’ out of the house of the Lord and dump it by the roadside.” When the organ eventually was put in, another dissenting member transferred to St. Andrew’s mission church, unaware that a small melodeon was used in services there, too. However, soon after his daughter was appointed to play the instrument in Kildonan Church he returned there. This repentant parishioner was John “Scotchman” Sutherland, later an elected member of the first Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
In Winnipeg, where other religious denominations considered the organ an appropriate aspect of Christian praise, things went more smoothly. Grace Methodist acquired a small reed organ in 1873, and two years later a prominent mill owner presented the Baptist Chapel with a similar instrument. Other city churches, as well as those in outlying areas, also purchased reed organs, and they served these congregations for many years.
Reed Organs
The reed organ today exists only as a reminder of a by-gone era, but it played an important part in the musical life of the community around the turn of the century. In addition to supporting congregational singing in the churches, reed organs were the focus of religious devotions and entertainment in family parlours throughout North America.
Source: James B. Hartman
Continuing Education Division, University of Manitoba
Number 29, Spring 1995
Retrieved from http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/29/goldenageoforgans.shtml