Instruments
Along with the wonderful musicians of CPC, we’re proud to have instruments of quality to accompany them, in the sanctuary and elsewhere!
The Sanctuary Piano
Our grand piano – a Yamaha C5 – 6′ 7″ Conservatory Collection Grand Piano – was donated by gifts from the Ralph and Ruth McCullough Foundation, members and friends of Central Presbyterian Church, and the Noonday Concert audience.
Piano at Central Presbyterian Church
The Organ
In his book The Roots of Central Presbyterian Church, Bo Byers wrote on the history of the organ at CPC:
Construction of the much larger sanctuary in 1957 called for a larger organ and console. Because of the heavy debt for the sanctuary, nearly two decades passed before the church saw its way clear to complete the organ expansion. The work was done by Otto Jurgen Hoffman, a German-born craftsman who abandoned a career as a physicist to become Austin’s master pipe organ builder. Hoffman’s two-year, $28,000 project culminated in the dedication Sunday, November 2, 1975, of a 60-rank pipe organ with more than 3,000 pipes, second in size only to one other Austin church.
Organ console at Central Presbyterian Church
Organ Details
The First Southern Presbyterian Organ of 1975 is an instrument containing three manual and one pedal claviers. The swell and choir-positiv are under expression; the great and pedal are unenclosed. The action is electro-pneumatic. There are several features of this instrument which are unusual for organs of this size.—the Cornet, the two mixtures at different pitch levels, and the Rohrflöte on the great; the choice of Sesquialtera and Terz for solo work; 2-foot principal stops on each division; a choice of 2-foot stops on the choir; a full complement of reeds (16′, 8′ and 4’) on the swell; and a well-developed pedal.
The console has three manuals and pedal. The swell manual is the upper keyboard, the great is in the middle, and the lower one is the choir-positiv, with the pedals in the lower part of the frame. The choice of stops is made by means of the tilting tablets above the swell manual and by the combination pistons operated by the buttons between the keyboards.
This photo by Carlos Guerra shows a portion of the choir division. The pipes above the walk-board are the Nachthorn, the Unda Maris, the Sesquialtera, and the Spitzflöte. In the lower frame are the Principal 2′, the Zimbel, and the Krummhorn. Beyond the swell shutters we see a portion of the great division—the Scharf, the Mixture, the Quint, and the wooden Hohlflöte.
In this photo by Carlos Guerra, we see a portion of the unenclosed great and pedal divisions, including the pedal Prinzipal 8′, the great Gedeckt 16’, and the funnel-shaped great Bombarde.
Organ Stoplist
The following was included in the program for The Dedication Recital on November 2, 1975.
Photo by Carlos Guerra
SWELL
Bourdon 16’
Prinzipal 8’
Gedeckt 8’
Salicional 8’
Celeste 8’
Prinzipal 4’
Harmonic Flute 4’
Fugara 4’
Nazard 2-2/3’
Gemshorn 2′
Terz 1-3/5’
Plein ]eu III-IV
Fagot 16’
Trumpette 8′
Hautbois 8’
Clarion 4
GREAT
Gedeckt 16’
Prinzipal 8’
Hohlflöte 8’
Gamba 8’
Octav 4′
Rohrflöte 4’
Quint 2-2/3′
Super Octav 2’
Waldflöte 2′
Jeu de Clochette 1’
Mixtur IV
Scharf IV
Cornet III
Bombarde 8’
CHOIR-POSITIV
Concert Flute 8′
Quintadena 8’
Dulciana 8′
Unda Maris 8′
Prestant 4′
Traverse Flute 4’
Nachthorn 4′
Prinzipal 2’
Spitzflöte 2′
Zimbel III-IV
Sesquialtera II
Krummhorn 8′
PEDAL
Resultant 32′
Prinzipal 16’
Subbass 16’
Contraviole 16’
Gedeckt 16’
Octav 8′
Subbass 8’
Viola 8′
Gedeckt 8′
Quint 5-1/3′
Octav Prinzipal 4’
Gedeckt 4′
Nachthorn 4’
Mixtur III
Bombarde 16’
Fagot 16’
Bombarde 8’
Bombarde 4’
