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Choir, Organ
and
Ministry of Music
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Choir
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Organist/Choirmaster
Sarita Zaffini
Sarita Zaffini
Organist/Choirmaster
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Parishioner &
Professional Recording Artist
Christine
Fraser Ramsey
Christine Fraser Ramsey has offered a variety of musical arrangements during
selected St. James Masses.
Chris is married to Stephen Matheny and both
recently were awarded the Shield of Saint James’ award for outstanding
service to the people of Saint James’ Church.
She holds a prestigious biography of music
accomplishments (both vocal and instrumental). She has
studied Scottish music and harp in Scotland, and she
won the U.S. National Amateur Scottish harp competition in Alexandria, Va.
Additionally Christine serves as a harp judge for regional and national harp
competitions under the auspices of the Scottish Harp Society of America.
More information on professional
recordings of her music such as Lang a-Com’in and Tailgated by the Moon
is available at her website:
www.cfrharp.com |
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A
Short History of the Brombaugh Organ
St. James Church entered into
contract with the John Brombaugh Organ Builders, Middletown, Ohio in 1969. The organ
was installed and voiced in the Summer of 1971 – total price $14,800! The
congregation heard it for the first time on Pentecost. As John Brombaugh was in
Holland that Summer studying Dutch Renaissance organ construction, the final voicing was
completed by George Taylor, his original partner. The organ’s placement was on the
South wall of the chancel, near where the lectern is now located, with the organist facing
the wall. When the sanctuary and chancel were remodeled around 1980, the organ was
completed and moved to its present position behind the altar and reredos. When it
was originally constructed, there was room left in the case for the addition of two
mutation stops. This addition was made possible by an estate settlement bequest to St.
James upon the death of a parishioner in 1980. The work was done by Taylor/Boody Pipe
Organ Builders, as John Brombaugh had in the meantime moved his shop to Eugene
Oregon. George Taylor had left the original firm and set up his own shop in
Staunton, Virginia, retaining John Boody. The Taylor/Boody firm continues to this day to
service the St. James organ.
About the Organ
- The pipes are from a firm in
Holland
- The case is of fumed white oak
- The casework design in the front
of the pipes represents the flames of the Holy Spirit and were carved in the Brombaugh
shop
- The keys are of ebony and rosewood
- Everything except the pipes was
handmade in the Brombaugh shop in Middletown
- The voicing of the organ is that
of the Dutch High Renaissance
- Tuning of the organ is
Werckmeister II
At the time the organ was built,
the firm owned by John Brombaugh was a group of young men literally "on fire"
with the excitement of building pipe organs based on the centuries old construction and
voicing principles of the best historic European organs. The St. James organ is the third
one this firm built, and the second one in Ohio (one in Oberlin was the first.) Both the
Brombaugh and the Tayler/Boody firms have gone on to become leaders in the pipe organ
construction business and have built outstanding organs all over the world.
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