Beyond the tuning and cleaning, the renovation has entailed straightening and resoldering warped pipes, and reracking and releathering pipes and bellows, known as the wind reservoirs. It is a painstaking process that began in 2022. The pipes are being removed, restored and reinstalled in batches, including some of the longest, at 16 feet, pipes in the instrument, Steinbach said. 

“Every pipe has its role to play — it takes a village, and it’s just beautiful,” Steinbach said. “This renovation addressed important repairs, and what’s so exciting is that it restores the accuracy of the notes.”

Steinbach, a professional organist who performs across the world, said the organ at Brown is notable for the breadth of sound it embodies. The organ has 60 ranks and 57 speaking stops that enable everything from mellow flute and string tones to thunderous principal choruses with heroic trumpets blaring across the hall, giving the organ the range of a full orchestra controlled by a single person, Steinbach said.

“I’ve had visiting organists say, ‘Oh this stop sounds very English, but this stop sounds a little French, and that one sounds a little German,’” Steinbach recalled. “It has a very hybrid aesthetic.”

The renovation is being supported by a generous gift from the family of David A. Lownes, who was a member of Brown’s Class of 1953 who died in 2018. The family also donated a practice organ, now located in the Orwig Music Building, in his memory.

Spencer Organ Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, is leading the renovation. Martin Near, a pipe organ tuner and restorer with Spencer who has worked on the project, said people are often astounded when they enter Sayles Hall and behold its mighty organ, which comprises the entire gallery above the entrance into the main hall.

“This is a really great opportunity for a really great instrument and a great institution,” Near said. “To see the looks on people’s faces when they come in here is incredible, and I’ve never seen anything quite like the emotional support that this organ has.”

Historic instrument resonates at Brown

Brown University received the Hutchings-Votey pipe organ in 1903 from Lucian Sharpe, a member of the Class of 1893, who dedicated the instrument in memory of his parents, according to the May 1903 edition of Brown Alumni Monthly. The Latin inscription on the organ’s oak case reads, “Parentibus et Academiae Pignus Pietatis” or “to (my) parents and the academy, a token of devotion.” To receive the organ, which weighed about 25 tons, the old gallery in Sayles Hall was replaced by a new one with a projecting center. The student body had wanted a pipe organ for many years, and in his annual report in 1902, then-Brown President William Faunce referred to a new organ for Sayles Hall as “one of our greatest small needs,” according to Encyclopedia Brunoniana.

The organ was previously renovated in 1949 and 1990, Steinbach said. It is regularly tuned by the Spencer Organ Company, and it’s played during major public performances about 10 times a year, including the Halloween recital, the All-Class Memorial service during Commencement and Reunion Weekend, the E.J. Lownes Memorial Recital, and the Annual Service of Lessons and Carols each December, which is a Brown tradition that dates back 108 years. It’s also played during Steinbach’s faculty recital and concerts with the Brown University Orchestra and Brown University Chorus.

“In between the major events, the organ is played most days by me and by students studying the organ for credit through the applied music program,” Steinbach said. “Students love the organ and they’re proud of it — it has this cool cachet.” 

Thanks to the renovations and the attention to its thousands of pipes, bellows, speaking stops and swell boxes, the organ will be ready to resonate for future generations of Brunonians, Steinbach said.

“It’s in the heart of the campus in this incredible multipurpose space where so many Brown traditions and events happen,” Steinbach said. “This is the largest remaining Hutchings-Votey organ in the world, and this work will protect the instrument so it can be played for another hundred years.”