Pipes Alive at Bethany Presbyterian
Bethany’s austere sanctuary: organ console on the right, louvers in the screen above the choir. Photo: https://www.bethanypc.org/ministries/music/
Sometimes I am simply gob smacked by historically important events. That’s what happened on Sunday, October 20, 2024, when quite fortuitously I attended the free concert celebrating the 90th anniversary of Bethany Presbyterian Church’s Möller Organ.
Located in the 1800 block of Queen Anne Ave. N., the building has long been part of my historical thoughts, for it is one of few churches designated a city of Seattle landmarks. I also had the pleasure on May 27, 2011, of visiting the church when as part of a major seismic upgrade, the interior was totally gutted for the addition of shotcrete walls and a new roof. In fact, when listening to the historic organ, I witnessed no evidence that this building had been effectively taken apart and put back together thirteen years ago.
I love so much about Bethany(1) that it is hard to focus on the organ. It was installed in October 1934 about five years after groundbreaking for the congregation’s third site.(2) Sunday’s brief concert traced the history of church organ music with pieces by Bach (17th c.), Mendelssohn (18th c.), Boëllmann (19th c.), and Ore (20th c.). The choices anchored the organ in the historical evolution of its unique genre. The music provided an opportunity to understand the evolution of the instrument over 400 years.
Sylvia Oines, the church’s organist for the last 20 years, called attention to the louvers in the screen concealing the pipes, noting that Bach had no such devices in his time. Before she played Boëllmann’s rather peppy Prière à Notre-Dame, Oines pointed out the organ’s association with the entertainment industry. Kyle Haugen, organist for Queen Anne Lutheran Church, played the other pieces. As the program indicated, Haugen’s participation was appropriate as both Bach and Mendelssohn served as Lutheran church musicians in Leipzig.
The organ itself is the work of the M.P. Möller Pipe Organ Company which manufactured organs in Hagerstown, Maryland from 1881 until the early 1990s.(3) M.P. Möller, a Danish immigrant, founded the company in 1875 in Pennsylvania. Apparently, he saw himself as the Henry Ford of organs. He believed every home should have an organ to go with the Model T in the driveway. Over the years the company modernized the wind instrument’s systems making the relatively small console ideal for churches like Bethany. Unlike the organs in the Catholic churches I know, the console sits on the altar and has a prominent place in the service. The location places the organist in a position to direct the choir, but it also has a wonderful humanizing aspect.
Midway through the October 20 concert, Oines doffed a 1930’s era bonnet and shared with Linda Cutshall early memories of the church and the organ. I was particularly taken to learn that Cutshall is the daughter of Lawton Gowey(3), one of Oines’ predecessors who served as church organist and choir master for nearly 30 years between 1954 and 1983. In her concluding remarks, Oines noted that the organ cost $5,000 to buy, build and install. When I heard that I wondered where in 1934 in the throes of the Great Depression, did the church ever raise that kind of money. Church minutes, if they survive, should reveal the answer to this secret. I bet they had the same source as the $1,200,000 spent to rebuild the church in 2011.
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(1) The siting of the building, which creates a stupendous open and green space, is a delight. So is the steeple. I am also quite fond of the austere walls, the simple leaded glass windows, the wooden pews, and the warm glow of the restored light fixtures.
(2) See HistoryLink article at https://www.historylink.org/File/3213.
(3) Lawton Gowey spent his childhood in the house at 912 Second Avenue W., one of Queen Anne’s 50+ designated landmarks (Here are some images of the house). He was one of the region’s most avid and scholarly rail fans. He was a collector not only of photographs of trolleys and their routes but also a student of their development.