Dobson Pipe Organ Builders

Last updated
The organ of Merton College Chapel, Oxford (2013) Merton College Chapel Organ, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg
The organ of Merton College Chapel, Oxford (2013)

Dobson Pipe Organ Builders is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Lake City, Iowa.

The company was founded in 1974 by Iowa native Lynn A. Dobson, who served as President and Artistic Director until his retirement in February, 2020, when long-time colleague John A. Panning assumed ownership. [1] The company employs 18, and has produced almost 100 new instruments. It has also restored a number of historic organs, and tunes and maintains a variety of instruments in the upper Midwest.

First known for the construction of mechanical action organs, the company has since the 1990s also undertaken the construction of organs with electric actions, most employing slider windchests. Notable instruments built by Dobson include the organ at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California (which includes some pipes retained from the organ of the former St. Vibiana's Cathedral), and the organ for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. [2] [3]

Major church installations include a 95-rank organ installed at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas, in 2009, and an 84-rank instrument installed at Independent Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama in 2012. In 2013, Dobson completed a new mechanical action instrument for Merton College Chapel, making the firm one of a very few American organ builders to send its work to England. In 2018, Dobson completed a 126-rank instrument for Saint Thomas Church in New York City; it is the largest instrument built by the firm. In early 2021, the Dobson company completed a 51-rank organ having more than 3,000 pipes for the John and Alice Butler Hall at the University of Dubuque. The organ's dedicatory recital was held on April 6, 2021. [4]

A major fire on June 15, 2021, resulted in the destruction of the company's Lake City, Iowa, plant. [5] One Dobson employee was injured attempting to extinguish the blaze. [6] The four-manual organ under construction for St James' Church, Sydney, Australia, at the time of the conflagration was a total loss and the company personnel were reported to be “heartbroken” by the devastation. [7] On February 28, 2022, Dobson announced plans to build a new facility designed by ASK Studio of Des Moines on its old site. [8] Dobson has continued operations and resumed construction of the Sydney organ in interim workshop space while its new building is being designed and built. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pipe organ</span> Wind instrument controlled by keyboard

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre, volume, and construction throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing pitch, timbre, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ (music)</span> Keyboard instrument

In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more pipe divisions or other means for producing tones. The organs have usually two or three, up to five, manuals for playing with the hands and a pedalboard for playing with the feet. With the use of registers, several groups of pipes can be connected to one manual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeolian-Skinner</span> American pipe organ manufacturer (1901–1972)

Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866–1960), Arthur Hudson Marks (1875–1939), Joseph Silver Whiteford (1921-1978), and G. Donald Harrison (1889–1956). The company was formed from the merger of the Skinner Organ Company and the pipe organ division of the Æolian Company in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt Lake Assembly Hall</span> Historic building in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

The Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a building owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which sits on the southwest corner of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has seating capacity for an audience of approximately 1,400 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theatre organ</span> Type of pipe organ

A theatre organ is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casavant Frères</span>

Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels</span> Cathedral and Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, informally known as the COLA or the Los Angeles Cathedral, is the metropolitan cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States. It opened in 2002 and serves as the mother church for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as well as the seat of Archbishop José Horacio Gómez.

Ronald William Sharp was an Australian organ builder. He was awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) and the British Empire Medal (1980).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brombaugh</span> American pipe organ builder

John Burlin Brombaugh is an American pipe organ builder known for his historically oriented tracker action pipe organs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Willis & Sons</span> British pipe organ building company

Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Collins (organ builder)</span> English organ builder (1941–2015)

Peter Collins was an English pipe organ builder based in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He specialised in tracker action organs. Collins was an advocate of computer-aided design, using it to produce compact instruments and to control material costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hope-Jones</span> English musician and inventor

Robert Hope-Jones was an English musician who is considered to be the inventor of the theatre organ in the early 20th century. He thought that a pipe organ should be able to imitate the instruments of an orchestra, and that the console should be detachable from the organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Organs</span>

Austin Organs, Inc., is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent Airchest, and many remain in fine playing condition to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schuelke Organ Company</span> Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pipe organ builder

The Schuelke Organ Company was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based pipe organ builder. Schuelke Organs operated in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartola Musical Instrument Company</span> Defunct manufacturer of pipe organs

The Bartola Musical Instrument Company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, was a producer of theater pipe organs during the age of silent movies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt Lake Tabernacle organ</span> Pipe organ in Salt Lake City, Utah, US

The Salt Lake Tabernacle organ is a pipe organ located in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. Along with the nearby Conference Center organ, it is typically used to accompany the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and is also featured in daily noon recitals. It is one of the largest organs in the world. Jack Bethards, president and tonal director of Schoenstein & Co., describes it as an "American classic organ" and "probably one of the most perfect organs ever built."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logan Tabernacle</span> Historic church in Utah, United States

The Logan Tabernacle is a tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is located in Logan, Cache County, Utah. It is used regularly for church meetings, most often semi-annual stake conferences, seminary graduations, musical concerts, and lectures. The tabernacle welcomes visitors and is open for tours each summer from June to September. It is the site of many local celebrations, including the city's annual Summerfest Arts Faire held each June on the tabernacle grounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ building</span> Profession in music

Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinners Organ Company</span> Reed and pipe organ manufacturing company

Hinners Organ Company was an American manufacturer of reed and pipe organs located in Pekin, Illinois. Established in 1879 by German-American John Hinners, the firm grew through several partners, becoming Hinners & Fink in 1881, Hinners & Albertsen in 1886, and Hinners Organ Company in 1902. In the 1920s Hinners established a subsidiary, the Illinois Organ Supply Company, which mass-produced parts for Hinners and other firms. Business declined in the 1930s due to the Great Depression, changing technology, and increasing competition. Hinners became a service company in 1936 and closed in 1942.

References

  1. Leibel, Katie (October 24, 2019). "BLC celebrates 40th anniversary of Dobson Opus 10 Organ". The Free Press . Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  2. Bush, Douglas Earl; Kassel, Richard (2006). The Organ: An Encyclopedia. Psychology Press p. 148. ISBN   978-0-4159-4174-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Haga, Evan (April 26, 2019). "Trudy Pitts Dies at 78". JazzTimes . Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  4. "John and Alice Butler Pipe Organ to Debut in Upcoming Recital". University of Dubuque. March 12, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  5. "Fire destroys Lake City organ business". Carroll Daily Times Herald . June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  6. "Fire destroys pipe organ making business in western Iowa". ABC News . Associated Press. June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  7. "Dobson Pipe Organ Builders' Team Is Devastated By Fire, But Thanks Firefighters And Community For Support". KCIM . June 16, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  8. "Comeback from fire: Dobson Organ to rebuild". Carroll Daily Times Herald. February 28, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  9. "Dobson Pipe Organ Builders take next step in rebuilding their factory". WOI-DT . March 3, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.