View of Holy Name Catholic Church exterior from a distance.

Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church
Henderson, Kentucky

 Wicks Organ Company
Opus 2735
(1946/2009)
20 Ranks
GREAT

16' Bourdon - 12 Pipes
8’ Open Diapason -61 Pipes
8’ 2nd Open Diapason -61 Pipes
8’ Violincello -61 Pipes
8’ Melodia -61 Pipes
8’ Gemshorn -61 Pipes
4’ Octave -12 Pipes
4’ Violin -12 Pipes
4’ Hohl Flute -12 Pipes
4’ Gemshorn -12 Pipes
2 2/3’ Twelfth -61 Pipes NEW
2’ Super Octave -61 Pipes NEW
III Plein Jeu [SW]
8’ Trumpet -61 Pipes
8’ English Horn [SW]
4’ Clarion
Tremolo
MIDI

 SWELL

16’ Lieblich Gedeckt -12 Pipes
8’ Geigen Diapason -61 Pipes
8’ Gedeckt -61 Pipes
8’ Viol D’Orchestra -61 Pipes
8’ Viole Dolce -61 Pipes
8’ Celeste -49 Pipes
8’ Aeoline -61 Pipes
4’ Octave Geigen -12 Pipes
4’ Harmonic Flute -61 Pipes NEW
4’ Viole Dolce -12 Pipes
4’ Celeste -12 Pipes
2 2/3’ Nazard -19 Pipes
2’ Piccolo -12 Pipes NEW
III Plein Jeu -183 Pipes NEW
8’ English Horn -61 Pipes
Tremolo
MIDI

Glockenstern  NEW
(activated with thumb or
 toe piston, adjustable speed)

PEDAL

32’ Resultant
16’ Open Diapason -12 Pipes
16’ Bourdon [GT]
16’ Lieblich Gedeckt [SW]
8’ Prestant -32 Pipes NEW
8’ Violincello [GT]
8’ Flute [GT]
4’ Prestant -12 Pipes NEW
4’ Harmonic Flute [SW]
16’ Trumpet -12 Pipes
8’ Trumpet [GT]
4’ English Horn [SW]
MIDI

COUPLERS
Sw/Gt: 16, 8, 4
Sw/Ped: 8
Gt/Ped: 8, 4
Gt/Gt: 16, 4, Unison Off
Sw/Sw: 16, 4, Unison Off

COMBINATION ACTION:
12 Generals
(7-10 duplicated on toe studs)
5 Divisionals for each division
128 levels of Memory




Holy Name, Henderson Ky, new facade pipes

ORGAN EXPANSION PROJECT
Wicks Organ Company/Sam Bowerman
2009

There was an older organ in this church before Wicks' Opus 2735 was installed in 1946, but no records of it have been located.  Some parishioners remember as children seeing exposed organ pipes that partial blocked the view of the windows in the rear choir loft gallery.  It's possible that some of the pipes from that organ were included in the 1946 installation, as some of the current pipes show evidence of use in an older organ (see photo below). 

The thirteen-rank Opus 2735 included a wide variety of colorful string stops and bold diapasons, as well as contrasting flute and reed ranks.  As was common in relatively small church organs in the first half of the 20th century, brightness was achieved through the narrow scaling of string and diapason ranks (the narrow scaling brings out the upper harmonics in individual pipes) rather than by adding higher-pitched principals and mixtures.  These widely varying 8-foot-based timbres blended overhead in this high-ceiling room, filling it with a smooth, warm sound that fit the nature of chant-based liturgical music and popular devotional music and hymns of the pre-Vatican II period. 

By the early 1980s the organ had suffered, perhaps from some water damage and neglect.  At that time the organ was repaired with a project that included switching to a solid state relay system, thus eliminating the mechanical-electrical linkages in the stop and coupler actions, and putting new bottom-boards on some of the chests.

With this latest project in 2009, seven new ranks of pipes were made to blend with the existing thirteen unified ranks to add brightness, greater clarity of voices and increased independence of stops, while maintaining the historic character and tonal color of the instrument.  The new pipes are on newly added chests placed inside the existing chambers; except for the new pedal principal pipes which are placed in decorative oak casework on the outside of the chambers.  The console has been refurbished, including a multi-level combination memory system and a MIDI sequencer allowing record/playback (enabling the organist to listen to his/her own practicing from the pews downstairs) and synthesized sounds playable on the MIDI stops for special effects such as chimes (or more "exotic" sounds). The relay system received further upgrading and most of the reed pipes were sent to the Wicks shop for refurbishing.  Sam Bowerman, the Kentucky/Southern Indiana area representative for Wicks and proprietor of River City Organ Works in Louisville, led the planning and installation phases of the project.  On-site tonal finishing of the entire organ was provided by Christopher Soer and Jonathan Lester, to blend the old and new together into a musically unified whole.

                 -Neal Biggers, Director of Music and Liturgical Ministries


New Harmonic Flute


New Plein Jeu mixture

Stenciling on olf pipes
Evidence of stenciling on existing pipes installed in1946, obviously from an earlier organ.
Sound and Video Clips:
"In dulci jubilo" Marcel Dupre'  "Swiss Noel" Louis-Claude Daquin


"Nun freut euch" J.S. Bach
Pre-renovation photos
 Fugue in G Minor, J.S.Bach
Renovation photos

Hymn: Joy to the World


Back to Organ Page

Evansville A.G.O. Homepage