Music
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By the start of the millennium, however, the once “magnificent” new organ had fallen into a bad state of disrepair. Many stops and some full sections did not work at all. Matthew Larkin, the music director at the time, felt that organists unfamiliar with its limitations could no longer use it. It was decided that a full refurbishment was necessary and this led to the Organ Capital Campaign of 2001-2004. With parishioner Betsy Clarke organizing the campaign, $550,000 was raised ($50,000 of which was earmarked for “outreach” projects as part of the decision to go ahead). Mostly, the funds came from generous parishioner donations through pledges over a three-year period. The restoration work was undertaken by a Quebec firm, Les Orgues Baumgarten, led by master organ builder Alain Baumgarten. The project took longer than planned when problems were found to be worse than initially thought. However, the work was successfully completed in 2005. Visible signs of the organ refurbishment include trumpet pipes on either side of the altar that did not previously exist and new façade pipes above the choir and side aisle on the pulpit side. Technical Specifications Great Swell Great Chamade Positif
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Since its original foot-powered instrument in the 1890s, St. Matthew’s has been well known for its organ as well as its choirs. One of Ottawa’s largest musical instruments, some of the pipework dates back to the original church building and its Casavant-Freres organ of 1909. This original instrument was moved to the new church building and enlarged by Casavant in 1931. In 1957, the London (England) firm of Messrs. Hill, Norman and Beard was engaged to expand the resources of the organ by adding, among other things, a new console, a horizontal “solo” trumpet and a “positive” division.