Hungars Church Organ
Holtkamp Opus 2106 (2013)
Built approximately 1742, the present Hungars Church is known to have been home to only two pipe organs in its nearly 300 years. There are many written records of our original pipe organ having existed very early in the history of our current building, and it can be speculated that it may have pre-dated the current structure and been moved here after the church was finished. These records, unfortunately, have never yielded technical data on the instrument or even the name of its builder, but they do state that our original pipe organ was significant and one of the oldest pipe organs in the colony. During the Revolutionary War, Hungars Church, being part of the Church of England, was ransacked by revolutionaries, and many of its ornate appointments and possessions destroyed or lost. Our original pipe organ met its demise during this time, and it is said that the pipes were melted down and used as fishing weights in the Chesapeake Bay.
Following the Revolutionary War, until 2013, it seems that music in Hungars Church was supported by piano, a series of manually-pumped reed organs (harmoniums), and electronic organs. When the last of those electronic organs began to fail, a dedicated group of parishioners began to raise awareness and funds to replace it with a pipe organ, finally giving a proper replacement to the organ lost during the Revolution. After many proposals and deliberations, it was decided that the solution which would best serve the needs of the Church and be most in keeping with the atmosphere of our historic sanctuary would be to commission an entirely new, custom pipe organ.
The current organ of Hungars Church was built in 2013 by the Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio as their Job 2106. All pipework is encased in the rear gallery and the two-manual, terraced draw knob console is located to the right of the Altar near the choir pews. The size of the organ was limited by the very small amount of space available in the gallery, which is raked towards the rear wall further restricting height. Through clever chest layout, creative pipe mitering, and use of “Haskell” bass pipes, the organ case houses 18 ranks of pipes, including a developed Diapason chorus topped by Mixture, multiple Flutes, a Cornet, 16’-8’ reed, and strings. The tonal specifications of the Holtkamp are below.
