Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
Woburn, Massachusetts
George Bozeman Jr., and Co.

The Stoplist

Manual I-coupling manual
  (plays great & swell divisions)

Manual II-Great: 61 notes
  1.  Bourdon*            16'
  2.  Principal*           8'
  3.  Spire Flute*         8'
  4.  Octave*              4'
  5.  Spindle Flute        4'
  6.  Nazard           2 2/3'
  7.  Recorder             2'
  8.  Tierce           1 3/5'
  9.  Mixture III*     1 1/3'
 10.  Trumpet              8'

Manual III-Swell: 61 notes
 11.  Viola**              8'
 12.  Celeste t.c.**       8'
 13.  Chimney Flute*       8'
 14.  Spire Flute          4'
 15.  Principal*           2'
 16.  Larigot          1 1/3'
 17.  Sharp Mixture II   2/3'
 18.  Cremona***           8'

Pedal-30 notes,
  radiating & concave
 19.  Bourdon (Gt)        16'
 20.  Principal (Gt)       8'
 21.  Spire Flute (Gt)     8'
 22.  Choralbass           4'
 23.  Trombone            16'
 24.  Trumpet (Gt)         8'

*    From the Vestres Organ
**   Dennison Pipes
***  Casavant Pipes

This Organ featured in the September - October, 1991 issue of
The Northeast Organist Magazine

Strike while the iron is hot"...goes the old saying. It's not always easy to do. It means being in the right place at the right time (if you'll pardon another cliché). We had a little trouble deciding exactly what to feature this issue. Many interesting potential stories have been flowing in from New England and New York. We decided that this "iron" was the "hottest".

It's always nice to receive news of an installation of a new pipe organ. Most of the time however, it is belated. The dedicatory recital has long passed, and we can look at the pictures...maybe catch a future concert?

In this issue, we have been fortunate enough to be able to highlight the installation of a new George Bozeman, Jr. and Company instrument. The organs' home is the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Woburn, Massachusetts. When I visited, the great bulk of it had already been installed, though several ranks of pipes had yet to placed, and the tuning and voicing procedures were continuing. I had seen the previous instrument and its location in the sanctuary, and was struck by the diametrically opposed approaches between the former and latter organs.

The previous instrument was installed in 1971 by the Norwegian firm Vestres. Its very contemporary case was mounted high up on the left front wall, and projected only a few feet out at its widest point. I had the opportunity to play the Vestres, and was disappointed that the console was dilapidated, the pedals had strange plastic "protectors" on them (making it difficult to play), and that the overall tone and projection of the instrument were lacking. Many of the stops however, were quite pleasing. To quote Mr. Bozeman, "Their organ...contained nice pipes which, unfortunately, were placed on inferior...mechanisms. The wealth of fine pipes from the Vestres organ provided an economic means for providing a more generous stoplist than would otherwise have been possible." Indeed, the usage of the original pipes in the new organ allowed for such "needs" to be fulfilled as a celeste string stop on the Swell and the addition of a brand new trumpet on the Great. A glance at the stoplist will show the generous usage of the Vestres pipes.

The organ is mechanical stop and key action. The case is of Red Oak with matching bench, the console is detached and reversed. Though at first it appears to be a 3-manual, the lower manual is in reality a coupling manual, playing both the Swell and Great together. The combination action is compact yet generous. The solid state system incorporates 8 general pistons (duplicated with toestuds) with 8 levels of memory, each of which can be accessed by the simply turn of a dial. This gives the equivalent of 64 general pistons! (Not to mention that there are 6 pistons each for Swell and Great, and 6 toestuds for the pedal division.)

The evening we photographed the new Bozeman instrument, it was also possible to play and hear it, though all was not yet finished. The striking visual differences between the old and new are immediate. The instrument is placed at the right of the building, standing on the floor. The case is a delicate blend of traditional and contemporary elements. The sound was also strikingly different. The principal chorus filled the room in a commanding but not overwhelming manner. Again to quote Mr. Bozeman, "The traditional Lutheran liturgy and hymnody are provided for the time-honored way with bold Principal choruses topped with well developed mixtures." The revoicing (and in some cases rescaling) of the Vestres pipes brought new life to them.

Being a brand new instrument, one wouldn't think that there would be much historical content to it. But it is interesting to note that the Cremona on the Bozeman Swell had been previously added to the Vestres by Richard Nickerson, and are Casavant pipes. Also, the Swell viola is largely made up of pipes installed in 1913 in the First Congregational Church of Woburn, and are probably Dennison pipes.

Article Text by Paul J. Mahoney