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Corpus Christi Church
(Roman Catholic)
529 West 121st Street
New York, N.Y. 10027
http://www.corpus-christi-nyc.org
Organ Specifications:
Present building (since 1936)
► III/29 Holtkamp Organ Company, Job 1692 (1956)
• II/ Hammond Musical Instrument Co. (1936)
First building (1907-1936)
• Estey Organ Company, Op. 990 (1912)
The church also houses a Positive by Taylor & Boody (1987). |
In the early twentieth century, as the number of cultural, educational and religious institutions increased in Morningside Heights, the parish of Corpus Christi was established to serve the Catholic community in the area. The first Masses were held on May 6, 1906, in a temporary chapel on the corner of Broadway and West 121st Street, and on November 11 of the same year the cornerstone was laid for a permanent church. Architect F.A. de Meuron designed a parish building that would include the church, school and rectory, and the new church was dedicated on June 30, 1907, by Archbishop John Farley. The parish school opened the following September.
In 1934, Father George Barry Ford, the Catholic chaplain of Columbia University, was named pastor of Corpus Christi Church, and the church became the center of Catholic religious activities for the university. Under Father Ford's pastorate, construction began on the present building, culiminating in its dedication on October 25, 1936. The neo-Georgian building was designed by Wilfred E. Anthony, and contains the Cardinal Newman Chapel (specially subscribed for by university alumni) on the first through third floors, with the school and convent in the three floors above the church proper. The chapel includes galleries in the rear and on both sides, and contains many beautiful liturgical objets d'art.
Corpus Christi Church has a long-standing dedication to traditions of liturgical music—distinguished by its use of Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, Baroque, and early Classical choral music—and has commissioned contemporary works of sacred music. The church also hosts "Music Before 1800," an early music concert series.
Thomas Merton, the American spiritual writer who was converted to Catholicism while a student at Columbia, wrote in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, that the church of his baptism has a "seventeenth-century, Oratorian character about it, though with a sort of American colonial tinge of simplicity. The blend was effective and original. . . ." |
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Holtkamp Organ Company
Cleveland, Ohio – Job 1692 (1956)
Electric key and stop action
Setterboard combination action
3 manuals, 23 stops, 29 ranks
The organ in Corpus Christi Church was designed by Walter Holtkamp, and was installed in 1956, making it the first Holtkamp organ in Manhattan. It is believed that the choice of organbuilder may have been influenced by organist Vernon de Tar of the Juilliard School, at the time located a few blocks from the church.
An open chamber at the chancel end of the left gallery contains the free-standing pipes, and the console is located in the choir room below. The organist and choir hear the organ through a Japanese teak grill in the ceiling of the choir space. On the wall behind the console is a setterboard for the combination action. |
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Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
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8 |
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Principal |
61 |
2 |
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Superoctave |
61 |
8 |
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Gedackt |
61 |
1 1/3 |
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Mixture IV ranks |
244 |
4 |
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Octave |
61 |
8 |
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Trumpet |
61 |
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Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
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8 |
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Gamba |
61 |
4 |
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Spitzflöte |
61 |
8 |
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Voix Celeste (GG) |
54 |
2 |
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Nachthorn |
61 |
8 |
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Lieblich Gedackt |
61 |
2 2/3 |
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Sesquialtera II ranks |
122 |
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Positiv Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
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8 |
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Copula |
61 |
1 1/3 |
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Quinte |
61 |
4 |
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Rohrflöte |
61 |
1 |
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Zimbel III ranks |
183 |
2 |
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Principal |
61 |
8 |
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Krummhorn |
61 |
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Pedal Organ – 32 notes
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16 |
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Subbass |
32 |
4 |
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Choralbass |
32 |
8 |
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Octave |
32 |
16 |
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Fagott |
32 |
8 |
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Flauto Dolce |
32 |
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Couplers |
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Great to Pedal 8' |
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Swell to Great 16' |
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Swell to Pedal 8' |
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Swell to Great 8' |
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Positiv to Pedal 8' |
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Positiv to Great 8' |
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Positiv to Pedal 4' |
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Swell to Positiv 8' |
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Adjustable Combinations
(setterboard)
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Great Organ |
Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb) |
Swell Organ |
Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb) |
Positiv Organ |
Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb) |
Pedal Organ |
Pistons 1-2-3-4 (toe) |
Entire Organ |
Pistons 1-2-3-4 (thumb & toe) |
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General Cancel (thumb) |
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Reversibles
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Great to Pedal (thumb & toe) |
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Positiv to Pedal (thumb) |
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Swell to Pedal (thumb) |
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Full Organ (toe) |
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Expression
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Balanced Swell Pedal |
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Balanced Crescendo Pedal |
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Hammond Musical Instrument Company
Chicago, Ill. (1936)
Tone-wheel generators
2 manuals
When the present church was opened in 1936, pipe facades were installed on the right side of the chancel. Behind the dummy pipes were the speakers of an electric instrument built by the Hammond Musical Instrument Company of Chicago, who had patented an electric organ only two years earlier, in 1934. This instrument served the church until the Holtkamp organ was installed in 1956. Pictured are an undated postcard and architectural drawing of the present Corpus Christi Church that show the organ facade in the northeast corner of the present church. This facade existed several years after the Holtkamp organ was installed. |
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Organ installed in first church:
Estey Organ Company
Brattleboro, Vt. – Opus 990 (1912)
Electro-pneumatic action
2 manuals
The Estey Organ Company's Opus List shows that their opus 990 was installed in Corpus Christi Church in 1912. Specifications of this organ have not yet been located. |
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Sources:
"Aid New Catholic Chapel. 400 Columbia Alumni to Pay for Corpus Christi Church Work," The New York Times (July 5, 1936).
"Cardinal to Bless Church. Corpus Christi Ceremonies Will Be Held Next Sunday," The New York Times (Oct. 18, 1936).
"Chapel to Be Dedicated. Dr. Butler and Cardinal Hayes to Attend Columbia Service," The New York Times (Sep. 20, 1936).
Corpus Christi Church website: http://www.corpus-christi-nyc.org
Dolkart, Andrew S. Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture & Development. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Dunlap, David. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
The Estey Pipe Organ website: www.esteyorgan.com
Plogsterth, Ann. Archivist of Corpus Christi Church.
Illustrations:
Corpus Christi Church website. Photo of original
church building.
eBay.com. Postcard (<1956) and architectural drawing of present church interior.
Lawson, Steven E. Church exterior, interior, and Holtkamp Organ (1956). |
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