Antique organ to debut Saturday in Franklin
Dec. 12—An antique organ will make its debut in Franklin Saturday during the annual Hometown Christmas concert.
The 1891 organ was given to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church by the Episcopal Diocese of Syracuse and came from St. George's Episcopal Church in Chadwicks, just outside of New Hartford, a previous article said. The organ was built by John Gale Marklove, who was a well-known organ maker in Utica. The organ was brought to Franklin in April, to replace the electric organ in the building.
The organ's pipes were refurbished and the wooden frames were rebuilt by Sidney Chase and Bryon Sprague of Chase Organ Company in Worcester, the article said.
At the time the organ was donated, Dan Branigan, senior warden at the church, showed where the organ would be placed, pointing to a hole in the wall inside the church. He said the hole was for the manual manipulation of the original organ's bellows. Chase installed a motor to support the antique organ's bellows before it was rebuilt inside the church.
Branigan said in a previous article, the church's original organ was similar to the one that was rebuilt in its place. The original organ was taken out in the 1950s to make room for an electric organ. The electric organ that was in the church was 40 years old and parts could no longer be found to repair it.
The church found out near the time of last year's Hometown Christmas concert the antique organ was available, a previous article said. The church applied for and received grants from local anonymous donors to pay for the organ's installation and refurbishing.
Saturday's performance by organist Alfred Fedak will be the first one on the new organ. Fedak will start performing at 5:45 p.m.
Fedak sat at the organ for the first time Tuesday to practice for Saturday's concert. "Only 20 survive today," he said. "It's a beautiful musical instrument."
The organ has one manual keyboard and one peddle, along with knobs that change the tone and octaves of the organ. Fedak said the keyboard and peddle are smaller than in newer organs, so he was going to pick music from the 19th century and earlier to play Saturday. He will also play some pieces he composed. "I want to show off the instrument," he said.
Fedak said he started playing piano at age 5 and transitioned to the organ in high school. He has been a church organist for 55 years, starting in high school.
According to his online biography, he has performed and lectured throughout the United States as a solo artist. He has also performed with numerous choral and instrumental ensembles, including The Catskill Brass in Albany and in Franklin. "I've been coming here for the Hometown Christmas concert for the last five or six years," he said. "I'm friends with Carleton Clay and Ben Aldridge of Catskill Brass. They performed at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany where I played."
Fedak said he was still working out what he was going to perform Saturday, but was "very much looking forward to playing the organ on Saturday."
He said he felt the organ was meant to be in the church as the music "certainly fills the room here, both tonally and acoustically."
In addition to playing a prelude of organ music, Fedak will accompany the brass and coral pieces during the concert, which will begin at 6 p.m. The church is at 307 Main Street in Franklin.
Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.
