Aeolian Opus 1535
The Cooper Aeolian Organ
The organ at Morris Sutton Funeral Home was originally installed in 1924 in the home of Prohibition-era liquor exporter James Cooper. His massive 40 room mansion in Walkerville dwarfed the Willistead Manor. The pipes were installed in the basement and its sound reached the upper floors through large ducts that were covered by doors that could be opened or closed in each room. A small division, the Echo organ, was located on the second floor, where a ballroom was located. He hired an organist to play daily during breakfast. As well, the organ had a player mechanism so it could play music rolls without an organist. Its purchase price and installation exceeded $50,000 The mansion itself cost a reported $200,000. A new organ like this would cost $1.25 million today.
In 1946, Edwin Morris purchased the organ (the house was razed: too expensive for the widow to maintain) for $2500. An additional $12,000 was paid to Auguste Hebert of Southfield, MI, the area Casavant organ representative, to move it to its present location. To the credit of Hebert, he transplanted the organ without any modification, or “improvement”, as has been the custom through the ages. The organ has not been changed or modernized in any way since its installation. (The only modification was the installation of an electrical rectifier with a Hammond transformer, probably by Hebert, to replace the original belt-driven generator. Almost all organs have had this done. For historical purposes, the original generator is still in place next to the blower. The leather drive belt is still up there. I found it thrown into a corner.) This gives it original museum status. Its unaltered status and complete functionality is very historically and musically important.
The organ has two manuals and a flat 30 note pedalboard. There are two chambers of pipes located in the attic, which speak through a grille in its floor, which corresponds with a grille in the ceiling of the chapel. The console is located on the balcony. An additional 3 stop Echo division is also located there. There are 22 ranks of pipes. A rank of pipes is a complete set of 61 notes from the bottom key to the top key. There are 1280 pipes in this organ, plus a harp (a xylophone-type device) and a set of chimes. There are 20 stop controls for each manual.
Current Condition
As of today, all of the stop controls operate. This is the first time in about 20 years that this has been the case. There are four reservoirs that control air supply to various divisions. Three of them are air tight. One, the Echo organ, has an air leak. It, however, continues to function. (It has since been releathered)
The shutters (which control volume) to the three divisions are controlled by pneumatic swell engines.. These are pressurized boxes containing expandable accordion boxes that contain 6 sections that can sequentially collapse and expand, imparting a movement of several inches on a rod that in turn opens and closes the swell shutters.
All of the pipes are extant and play, as do all of the stop switches and other console controls.
There is a blower box, located next to the blower, that connects the blower to the wind trunk network. It has been recovered with the proper rubber and fleece multi-ply material using special historically accurate horse hide glue. It was ruptured, which is the reason the organ has not been playable for the last ten years or so.
There are two windchests in the attic. Each of them has over 1000 leather pouches, called pneumatics. These pouches are original to 1924 and every single one is functioning well.
“Action” is the term used to describe the connection between the key and the pipe. This organ uses an electro-pneumatic action. This is a combination of electromagnets on a 15 volt DC power supply, and air pneumatics in the form of leather pouches with valves attached and leather bellows. These elements combine to control the flow of air to the pipe or pipes.
The magnets are all in working order.
Recommendations
The instrument is worth saving for posterity. Its existence should be made known to historical and tourism bureaus. Its historical significance should be made official, considering its Prohibition connections.
It is conceivable that the instrument may be eligible for Trillium Foundation grants. This could cover the cost of relocation of the instrument. This might involve donating the organ to a yet to be formed non-profit society with tax-free donation status with the purpose of keeping the instrument alive.
The original player mechanism operates andplays special paper rolls.
The Morris Sutton property has been recently sold. After an exhaustive search to find a new home locally found no takers, the search broadened to include all of Canada with the same result. Finally, interest was shown by the Geelvinck Pianola Museum in Amsterdam. Pianola was the largest manufacturer of player pianos and was owned by the Aeolian Company, which was the largest music company in the world.
1535 is going to Amsterdam!
Aeolian Organ Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) Duo Art
Aeolian 1535 Cooper Aeolian Organ Specification
Chamber II
Stop name on tab Actual stop
Vox Humana 8 Vox Humana
Oboe 8 Oboe
String PP 8 Aeoline
Vibrato String P 8 Voix Celeste
String P 8 Salicional
String F 8 Viol d’Orchestre
Vibrato String F 8 Viol d’Orchestre
Deep Flute 16 16 Bourdon (wood)
Diapason 8 Conical Open Diapason (leathered upper lip)
Tremolo Tremulant
Chamber I
Clarinet 8 Clarinet
Trumpet 8 Cornopian
String P 8 Gemshorn
Piccolo 2 2 Flageolet
High Flute 4 4 Harmonic Flute
Flute P 8 Dolce Flute
Flute F 8 Gross Flute
Diapason F 8 Open Diapason (leathered upper lip)
Tremolo Tremulant
Pedal
Deep String F16 16 Open Violone
Deep FluteP 16 16 in Chamber 2 (borrowed from the manuals)
Deep Flute F 16 16 Bourdon
Echo
Flute P 8 Stopped Diapason
String P 8 Aeoline
Vox Humana 8 Vox Humana
Tremolo Tremulant
Chimes 20 tubes in Echo chamber
Harp 49 bars unenclosed, lowest octave plays tenor octave bars
Duo Art 176 note player in console behind music rack plays Duo Art organ rolls with pedal, registration changes and full control of expression shutters.
