Over the past three years, Brown’s Sayles Organ has undergone major restoration in an effort to maintain the musicality and integrity of the century-old instrument.
The 1903 Hutchings-Votey pipe organ was gifted to Brown University by Lucian Sharpe, a member of the Class of 1893. Today, the 121-year-old instrument stars in 10 annual concert series, including the Halloween recital, Reunion Weekend and the E.J. Lownes Memorial Recital, according to Mark Steinbach, a distinguished senior lecturer in music and the University’s organist.
The renovation process included soldering new pieces to improve the tuning of the instrument, replacing leather wrapped around some of the pipes and structurally supporting the pipes to improve their alignment.
“Our goal is to sustain what is here, protect it and have the organ play as great as it possibly can in its current situation,” Steinbach said.
Steinbach explained that he had been noticing issues with the organ for several years before the restoration began. “You would tune it in the morning for an organ recital that night, and then by the time you got to the recital, the pipes would have slipped and be out of tune,” he said.
Over time, parts of the organ, like leather wrappings and copper tuning reeds, wear out or rust, especially in the imperfect preservation conditions that exist in old, drafty buildings like Sayles, Steinbach said. “There’s lots of issues that affect the health of a pipe organ.”
Another concern was a botched renovation in the 1990s: Several sets of pipes were re-racked incorrectly and lacked structural support, didn’t stand straight and even rubbed up against each other, affecting the quality of the music. “The first matter that we absolutely had to do was support these pipes,” Steinbach said.
The renovation process began in 2022 after a donation from the family of David Lownes ’53. “This generous gift made the renovation possible and enabled the University to proceed with the project,” said Amanda McGregor, a Brown spokesperson.
Since then, the Spencer Organ Company, the company in charge of the restoration, has removed over 1,000 of the 3,000 total pipes from the organ. They took the disassembled pieces back to their shop in Waltham, MA and restored the wooden and metal pipes that needed cleaning or fixing.
The work was “all hand-done so that we can preserve the wood as best as possible,” said Joseph Rotella, the company’s president. Rotella also oversaw the restoration.
“We strongly feel that we are stewards of these instruments,” they said. “These are instruments that will outlive us, so what we do in our restoration work is to try to preserve the original builders’ intent.”
While restoring the instrument, the company exclusively used the same types of materials from the original construction of the organ — the same leather, screws and tuning mechanisms, as well as water-soluble glues so that the organ could be easily restored again in the future. “Our philosophy when it comes to restoring an organ is to leave it in such a condition that future generations can restore it as well,” Rotella said.
Rather than replace all of the parts at once, the project was spread over the course of several years to prevent the disruption of the University’s annual organ concert series. Steinbach explained that during the 2024 Halloween concert, some of the pipes were missing. “You’re not hearing the entire organ,” he said.
The last set of pipes will be reinstalled this Wednesday, and the final round of finishing and tuning will occur early next year for completion by mid-March.
“There was so much that went into these instruments in terms of skill and materials and craftsmanship. To be able to preserve this organ rather than tossing it is pretty amazing,” Rotella said.
In honor of the project’s completion next March, Steinbach will be hosting two concerts: a faculty concert and a guest performance by Notre Dame organist Vincent Dubois.
