Yon really had a secure command of the organ and a superbly athletic pedal technique! Today this organ has two identical five-manual drawknob consoles. It is something of a miracle that this footage exists at all.
Man oh man this is a priceless piece of footage even with sound quality limited by the technology of the day. I've been looking for some kind of recording of the original installation for years. What I can hear is magnificent and to see Yon at the Kilgen console like that is breathtaking. Any other similar footage and/or recording is most welcomed by all enthusiasts of Kilgen pipe organs. Thank you.
kilgenbuff Charles C Kilgen is my great great grandfather. We have all sorts of artifacts from what was left of their organ manufacturing empire. It’s a shame that the company was dismantled due to sibling squabbling.
@@arch_engineer8773 I worked for a time in the '90's at Saint Louis Pipe Organ, which acquired what was left of the Kilgen Organ Co., here in St. Louis. I worked on many Kilgen rebuilds, and their electropneumatic chests have by far the best design, both for durability and ease of releathering. Also, it is an atrocity that the nearly identical twin of their St. Patrick's opus, which was built for St. Francis Xavier College Church (St. Louis) was completely destroyed and dismantled. It was such a marvelous instrument that after Louis Vierne had played a series of concerts on it in the late 1920's, he stated on several occasions that it was one of his favorite instruments in the world to play.
I got to hear the College Church Kilgen a couple of times before it was forever lost and it was an extraordinarily grand and powerful instrument instrument. They were really wonderful organs. There is one in my boyhood parish still used every week that was installed in 1925. It was played every day when I was a kid in school there and for three masses on Sundays. It has given exemplary service for nearly 100 years.
I got to hear the College Church Kilgen a couple of times before it was forever lost and it was an extraordinarily grand and powerful instrument. They really were wonderful organs. There is one in my boyhood parish installed in 1925 and in near constant use since. It was played for Mass daily when I was a kid in school there and for three Masses on Sundays. It has given exemplary service for nearly 100 years.@@leonardeast3389
Hymn tune lyrics: 1. "I love thee O Mary! Thy name I revere, Sweet Virgin of virgins, Our Lady most dear; My heart with devotion turns ever to thee, For thou art my beacon on life's troubled sea. 2. "I love thee, O Mary! Thy praise I proclaim! In joy and in sorrow I call on thy name. To thee, O sweet Mother, for refuge I fly, When dangers surround me and tempests are nigh."
Pietro's brother was a few blocks over and up at St. Vincent Ferrer - It is said that the great Enrico Caruso would sing the Schubert Ave Maria with Yon at St. Patrick's each Christmas Eve at the Midnight Mass.
Wow, too have a choir like that. I'm in agreement with Kilgenbuff that although the quality is not to today's standards it is the kind of history we need to remember.
Yon really had a secure command of the organ and a superbly athletic pedal technique! Today this organ has two identical five-manual drawknob consoles. It is something of a miracle that this footage exists at all.
Man oh man this is a priceless piece of footage even with sound quality limited by the technology of the day. I've been looking for some kind of recording of the original installation for years. What I can hear is magnificent and to see Yon at the Kilgen console like that is breathtaking. Any other similar footage and/or recording is most welcomed by all enthusiasts of Kilgen pipe organs. Thank you.
kilgenbuff Charles C Kilgen is my great great grandfather. We have all sorts of artifacts from what was left of their organ manufacturing empire. It’s a shame that the company was dismantled due to sibling squabbling.
@@arch_engineer8773 I worked for a time in the '90's at Saint Louis Pipe Organ, which acquired what was left of the Kilgen Organ Co., here in St. Louis. I worked on many Kilgen rebuilds, and their electropneumatic chests have by far the best design, both for durability and ease of releathering. Also, it is an atrocity that the nearly identical twin of their St. Patrick's opus, which was built for St. Francis Xavier College Church (St. Louis) was completely destroyed and dismantled. It was such a marvelous instrument that after Louis Vierne had played a series of concerts on it in the late 1920's, he stated on several occasions that it was one of his favorite instruments in the world to play.
I got to hear the College Church Kilgen a couple of times before it was forever lost and it was an extraordinarily grand and powerful instrument instrument. They were really wonderful organs. There is one in my boyhood parish still used every week that was installed in 1925. It was played every day when I was a kid in school there and for three masses on Sundays. It has given exemplary service for nearly 100 years.
I got to hear the College Church Kilgen a couple of times before it was forever lost and it was an extraordinarily grand and powerful instrument. They really were wonderful organs. There is one in my boyhood parish installed in 1925 and in near constant use since. It was played for Mass daily when I was a kid in school there and for three Masses on Sundays. It has given exemplary service for nearly 100 years.@@leonardeast3389
Thank you so much for posting this - this is my great uncle playing !!!!
Hymn tune lyrics:
1. "I love thee O Mary! Thy name I revere, Sweet Virgin of virgins, Our Lady most dear; My heart with devotion turns ever to thee, For thou art my beacon on life's troubled sea.
2. "I love thee, O Mary! Thy praise I proclaim! In joy and in sorrow I call on thy name. To thee, O sweet Mother, for refuge I fly, When dangers surround me and tempests are nigh."
Pietro's brother was a few blocks over and up at St. Vincent Ferrer -
It is said that the great Enrico Caruso would sing the Schubert Ave Maria with Yon at St. Patrick's each Christmas Eve at the Midnight Mass.
Wow, too have a choir like that. I'm in agreement with Kilgenbuff that although the quality is not to today's standards it is the kind of history we need to remember.
Many thanks for postinng this valuable document!!
My pleasure!
What ever became of the original console shell? Why was it never preserved - or has it been?
Wonderful to see the video, but those early charcoal microphones couldn't handle the breadth of the sound of the organ.