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Alaska’s Oldest Organ Plays Again After a Century

By David Dahl

The city of Sitka had two schools run by both the Orthodox Church and the Russian-American Company. Both Etholén and Cygnaeus were strong supporters of good schools and education, both in Sitka and in other parts of Alaska as well as in the native Finland. In fact, upon his return to Finland, Cygnaeus rose to fame as a leading educationist and has been honored ever since as the rue organizer and father of the Finnish elementary schools. Music was added to the Sitka school curriculum in 1845 (approximately one year prior to the arrival of the organ), presumable to produce musicians for the orchestra established at Sitka in 1839.

The Finnish Lutheran congregation worshipped in their church with its Kessler organ from 1846 to 1867. In 1867, the year that Alaska was transferred from Russian to U.S. ownership, many Finnish Lutherans returned to Europe, greatly reducing the size of the congregation. After this time the church building was less regularly used, although some worship services are known to have taken place until the 1880s.

In 1888 Dr. Sheldon Jackson, a pioneer Presbyterian missionary and founder of the present Sheldon Jackson College, inspected the abandoned church and saw that it had greatly deteriorated. In order to preserve things of value, he removed the pulpit, organ, and altar railing to the museum he had established at the Presbyterian Mission. In this same year the church building was condemned and demolished. The organ was briefly taken out of the museum buy apparently potentially costly repairs to the instrument caused it to be returned to the museum where it remained, reportedly in unplayable condition.

Although Lutheran activity was diminished in the late 19th century, nevertheless and active, corporate Lutheran congregation remained in Sitka, as evidenced by Board of Trustees meetings and laymen-led worship services for a growing number of Scandinavian Lutherans immigrating to Sitka. After an interim period of lay leadership Sitka Lutheran organized itself as an American (Territorial) corporation in 1935 and in 1942 the second new church building was dedicated.

When, in 1983, the organ, now unplayable, was moved to the third new building (1967) for Sitka Lutheran Church, discussion took place concerning the possible fundraising for its restoration, though no course of action was determined. On December 9, 1993, a fire occurred, seriously damaging the church and some of its contents. The organ was also damaged but fortunately not beyond restoration. According to Harvey Brandt, the church’s unofficial historian, members of Sitka Lutheran and others in the community were “deeply saddened at the possible loss of the organ, an important historical artifact of the city’s history, not to mention a potentially useful musical instrument for the church.”

Fortunately an insurance settlement provided funds for Sitka Lutheran Church to restore the organ, a project fro which Austrian-born organ builder Martin Pasi of Roy, Washington, was chosen. Work commenced in the spring of 1995, with completion celebrated in September at a gala open house at the organ shop.

The organ bears the inscription: E. Kessler, Dorpat (named Tartu by the Russians), No. 45, Anno 1844. Dorpat is a city in Estonia halfway between Helsinki, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. Organs were widespread in Estonia during the 19th century, and Kessler built instruments for churches, schools, and also for residences, as a number of homes were known to have small organs similar to the Sitka organ. Apparently the Kessler organ shop was destroyed during World War II.

The overall height of the organ is 89 inches; width is 65 inches and depth, 35 inches. The keyboard is constructed so that it can fold up vertically into the case; three square stopknob shanks are positioned at each end of the keyboard, pulling sideways toward the center of the case. Presumably both folding keyboard and sideways stopknobs were designed for safety in shipping, avoiding any protruding parts in the case. An iron pump-handle is attached at the lower center of the case front and may operate by foot a wedge feeder bellows connected to the parallel-rise primary bellows. An electric blower is newly installed, permitting the organist a choice of wind supply.

The original case was so badly damaged by fire that a replica had to be constructed. Pasi fabricated the new case out of the same type of wood used by Kessler, i.e. Baltic birch. Michael Reiter (Eatonville, Washington, piano technician, and expert wood finisher) applied a faux “Imperial” wood-grain paint in the same manner and color of the original. Study of an unburned portion of the original case permitted a chose match to be achieved. No back existed for the original case, nor does it now. The front of the case has a frame for holding a fabric “curtain” to screen the pipes. Because further information is needed regarding what this material might have been, no screening has been used to date. The badly burned original casework was returned to the church along with the restored organ.

Wind pressure for the organ is 42 mm. This pressure could be established with certainty because of the enclosed sealed wooden box containing bricks for weight dovetailing into the top of the bellows. Martin Pasi expressed his surprise that the pipes would work so well on the low pressure given their moderate-to-high mouth cutups (with the exception of the Gedeckt 8, which has a rather low cutup). Metal pipes are of 63% tin and 37% lead, with thin tapered pipe walls. Most pipes have wide flues, with consistent light-to-moderate nicking. Pipes are racked in such a way that they cannot swivel or change position, once again very likely to prevent tuning-voicing changes in long-distance shipping.

All action parts were preserved and merely cleaned. The keyboard required resurfacing; new ebony was fitted to the naturals and recycled ivory was fitted to the sharps. Original key action appears to have been quite stiff, likely to insure against pallet problems after shipping and because no service would be available to the organ upon its arrival. In the restoration Pasi releathered the pallets and lightened the pallet strings, resulting in a graciously light and responsive action.

Fire damage affected only the top of about half of the pipes (new tops were made of the same metal alloy), but fortunately did not affect of alter the “speaking” portion of any pipes, thus making it possible to know quite precisely how the organ was originally voiced.

Pasi has expressed high admiration for the quality of organbuilding he found in the Kessler instrument and remarks that he gained some insights, particularly in voicing matters, as a result of working on the project. His goal was to bring forth the original sound of the instrument as much as possible, avoiding unnecessary alterations or changes. The reaction of the large group who heard the organ at the Pasi shop was that the Kessler instrument possesses colorful charm, interesting speech, and a gently intensity. A particularly effective and thorough demonstration was provided by organist Roger Sherman of Seattle.

The Ernst Kessler organ, perhaps the oldest organ built for a client on the West Coast of the United States, was sent by barge back to Sitka to the now-rebuilt Lutheran Church. It speaks from a prime “swallow’s nest” location in the rear gallery, perhaps not unlike its first location; it is once again in regular use for worship after a century of silence.

Resources

Brandt, Harvey. “Sitka Lutheran Church: The Finnish Legacy in Russian American,” unpublished article, undated.

Estnische Kirchenorgeln (Historical Organs in Estonia). Ed. By Andreas Uibo, Jüri Kuuskemaa. Lilientahl/Bremen: 1994.

Harjunpaa, Toivo. “The Lutherans in Russian Alaska,” from Pacific Historical Review 37:2 (May 1968).

Lönnbeck, Gustaf F. Uno Cygnaeus: The Father of the Finnish Elementary School System. Helsinki: Otava, 1890 (2nd ed. 1910). Trans. By Panu Hallamaa, Sitka, 1994.

Pasi, Martin. An interview by David Dahl concerning the technical data related to the restoration of the Kessler organ. (December 1995).

Schneider, Paul. “An Historic Kessler Organ in our Forty-ninth State,” The Tracker 20:2 (1976).

Varjola, Porjo. The Etholén Collection: The ethnographic Alaskan collection of Adolf Etholén and his Contemporaries in the National Museum of Finland. Pub. by the National Board of Antiquities.

Ackowledgements

Harvey Brandt and members of the Sitka Lutheran Church history committee as well as a long list of community and congregation members.

Martin Pasi and Co., Organ Builders.