Our Pipe Organ

At St. Matthew’s, we are tremendously proud of our pipe organ. Its three manuals, 42 ranks and 52 stops provide a formidable dynamic range, a wide color palette and endless versatility to the music at our church. The instrument, built by Reuter Organ Company (Lawrence, KS), dates to 2009, when the church community had decided upon major renovations to most of the Sanctuary. Accommodating an organ of this size and style was a principal reason behind undergoing this redesign, and Reuter designed the instrument in conjunction with the new acoustic and visual properties of the space. Its public inauguration was in worship on Sunday January 31, 2010. Ken Cowan then gave it its concert debut the following March. Now, the organ is integral to worship in our parish virtually every week. The entire community at St. Matthew’s remains grateful to the Brock family, who donated the funds for this instrument in memory of Anise McDaniel Brock, much beloved organist and music teacher.

The organ excels at every task: hymn playing, choral accompaniment, and organ solo repertoire from baroque to contemporary. Its stoplist illustrates its great flexibility: each division is fully equipped with one or two principals, flutes, upperwork, sundry reeds, and even percussion accessories. Furthermore, each division is “extended” to a degree by borrowing stops from other areas of the organ. Among its many notable features are the Great principal chorus, which is large enough to fill the room by itself; the Swell Waldhorn, a reed that in fact runs the gamut from 32’ for use in the pedal all the way to 8’ for use elsewhere; the Choir Tuba, a force to behold but restrained by its expressive enclosure; the totally unrestrained Trompette en Chamade, which looms threateningly over the choir stalls; and, perhaps loveliest of all, the 8’ “Brock” Flute, capable of truly heavenly sounds, especially when paired with its 4’ colleague. At its smallest, this organ is not much more than a whisper, and at its loudest, it shakes the entire campus.

The organ was featured in the September 2010 edition of The American Organist in an article describing its genesis, design and construction. Click here to read it. (Copyright 2010 by the American Guild of Organists and reproduced by permission of The American Organist magazine.)

Organ specifications

Reuter Organ Company (Lawrence, KS)
Opus 2,234 (2009)
3 manuals
42 stops
52 ranks
3,140 pipes total
Console style: mobile with draw-knob stops, coupler tabs, thumb pistons and toe studs

Great 16 Sub Principal 16 Viole (Sw.) 8 Diapason 8 Principal 8 Harmonic Flute 8 Bourdon 4 Octave 4 Spindle Flute 2⅔ Twelfth 2 Fifteenth Cornet III (from C3) Fourniture IV 16 Fagotto (Ch.) 8 Tromba 8 Trompette en Chamade 8 Fagotto (Ch.) 8 Tuba (Ch.) Tremulant Chimes (digital) Cymbelstern Great to Great 16 Great Unison Off Great to Great 4 MIDI Swell 16 Viole 8 Geigen Diapason 8 Chimney Flute 8 Viole 8 Viole Celeste 4 Geigen Octave 4 Open Flute 2⅔ Nazard 2 Piccolo 1⅗ Tierce Mixture IV 16 Waldhorn 16 Trompette en Chamade (Gt., from C3) 8 Trumpet 8 Oboe 8 Waldhorn 8 Vox Humana 8 Trompette en Chamade (Gt.) 8 Tuba (Ch.) 4 Clarion Tremulant Swell to Swell 16 Swell Unison Off Swell to Swell 4 MIDI space Couplers Great to Pedal 8, 4 Swell to Pedal 8, 4 Choir to Pedal 8, 4 Swell to Great 16, 8, 4 Choir to Great 16, 8, 4 Swell to Choir 16, 8, 4 Memory 126 Memory levels 16 General pistons 8 Great divisional pistons 8 Choir divisional pistons 8 Swell divisional pistons 6 Pedal divisional pistons

Choir 16 Lieblich Flute 8 Principal 8 Brock Flute 8 Dulciana 8 Unda Maris (from C3) 4 Octave 4 Traverse Flute 2 Doublette 1⅓ Quinte Mixture III 16 Tuba (from C3) 16 Fagotto 8 Tuba 8 Fagotto 8 Trompette en Chamade (Gt.) 8 Waldhorn (Sw.) 8 Clarinet Tremulant Harp (digital) Choir to Choir 16 Choir Unison Off Choir to Choir 4 MIDI space Pedal 32 Bourdon (digital) 16 Principal 16 Subbass 16 Sub Principal (Gt.) 16 Viole (Sw.) 16 Lieblich Flute (Ch.) 8 Principal 8 Octave 8 Subbass 8 Principal (Gt.) 8 Brock Flute (Ch.) 8 Viole (Sw.) 4 Choral Bass 4 Subbass 32 Waldhorn (Sw.) 16 Trombone 16 Waldhorn (Sw.) 16 Fagotto (Ch.) 8 Trombone 8 Trompette en Chamade (Gt.) 8 Waldhorn (Sw.) 8 Fagotto (Ch.) 8 Tuba (Ch.) 4 Clarion 4 Fagotto (Ch.) MIDI Expression pedals Crescendo (32 increments) Swell Choir Accessories Full Organ Great-Choir Transfer Auto-pedal (on Great) Transposer (7 semitones each direction) Player Crescendo setter MIDI In, Thru, Out

View organ specifications as a PDF