Evebell Dunham knows what it's like to get old, so the Duke Chapel altar guild member feels a certain kinship with the church's Aeolian organ.
The organ, located in the front of the Chapel, was disconnected last week and will be restored-with some parts removed for cleaning-at a cost of $2.2 million. It is slated to return to duty in November 2008.
Dunham knew the 75-year-old giant wasn't what it used to be. When she could not get to church, she listened to radio broadcasts of services at the Chapel. When she heard a clear wheeze emanating from the organ's 6,570 pipes, she could tell her old friend was not in the best of health.
"It's very important to me, somehow it's like part of the sermon, and I'm delighted it's going to be revived," Dunham said. "You could tell it was getting old, just like me."
Though not as visually striking as the Flentrop organ located in the rear of the Chapel, the Aeolian is larger and serves as the primary organ for accompanying choirs during concerts and worship services.
Installed in 1932 and named for the company that built it, it is one of four organs in the building. It has four manuals-or keyboards-and a pedalboard.
The organ's greatest significance, however, is not in its specifications but in its meaning to listeners, said Craig Kocher, assistant dean of the Chapel and director of religious life.
"A lot of people connect the Chapel with music and the music is where their faith connects, so for a lot of people it's a symbol of faith," he said. "The Chapel is such a big and grand place that it needs big and grand things to fill it up. The Aeolian is an instrument that has not only the beauty but also the grandeur of the Chapel."
Upon reinstallation, the organ will be renamed for Kathleen Upton Byrns McClendon, who with her husband Aubrey contributed $600,000 to its restoration in 2003.
The reconditioning was arranged primarily by John Santoianni, Ethel Sieck Carrabina curator of organs and harpsichords, and David Arcus, Chapel organist and associate University organist.
Until the Aeolian is replaced, the Chapel will rely more heavily on the Flentrop as well as an electronic organ recently purchased from a local church.
The organ's supporters managed to rebuff a movement in the late 1980s to remove the Aeolian but did not muster the funds for reconditioning until this fall.
"This is a magnificent instrument for the way that we use it, namely in the context of worship services and for accompanying the choir," Arcus said. "I think the University put its heart in the right place back in 1980 when it determined that it was committed to the instrument."
He added that the delay helped to prevent the bad restoration decisions made with other instruments of the same vintage.
Changes in store for the organ range from cleaning to modification of the chambers where pipes are housed in hopes of achieving a clearer sound.
The console-the location where the organist sits to play the instrument-will be replaced with a more advanced unit, but will remain on display in the Chapel.
The new console will allow for playback through the pipes and will make it easier for the organist to switch registrations, or combinations of pipes, meaning the organ will be a more useful educational tool, Arcus said.
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