Dr. Brian DuSell will perform every piece from the 1925 dedication concert
Submitted by Jim Schneider
St. Mary’s trustee, historian, and bookkeeper
On Sept. 21, at 4 p.m., Dr. Brian DuSell, music director and organist at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Syracuse, will perform an organ concert at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and Shrine in Oswego. The concert commemorates the 100th anniversary of a dedication concert performed by Charles Courboin, a world-renowned organist, that took place on Aug. 25, 1925. Dr. DuSell will be recreating that concert in full based on an original program in St. Mary’s archives. He said he feels that the selections exhibit the full range of the organ’s capability.
In October 1924, as St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Oswego was being completed, Father Joseph Hopkins, the pastor at the time, signed a contract with Casavant Fréres of Quebec for a pipe organ. It is their Opus 1071. Because of complications related to World War I, construction of the church had dragged on for seven years at that point, and the project was way over the original estimates. The parish was praying for a benefactor, and on March 17, 1925, Father announced that one had been found. Mrs. Olive King had donated $21,000 in memory of her recently deceased husband, Thomas, to pay for the organ. The announcement was made at an evening Lent service, and it was reported that there was not a dry eye in the church. The organ was named the King Memorial Organ.
Charles Courboin, an internationally known virtuoso organist, performed a dedication concert on Aug. 25, roughly two weeks before the consecration of the church. Courboin was born in Antwerp, Belgium. At an early age, he was able to play concertos and symphonies by ear. At the age of 18, he was made organist of the cathedral in Antwerp. He played a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He came to the United States in 1904 to serve as organist at St. Paul’s parish in Oswego. While in Oswego, he met and married Hazel Rothrock, whose family was members of St. Mary’s parish, their wedding being one of the last ones in the original St. Mary’s Church.
The decorative pipes displayed inside the church. Photo submitted by Jim Schneider
Besides being a virtuoso organist, Courboin was also an organ technician. He was involved in the project to expand the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia, making it the largest pipe organ in the world. He offered his services to Father Hopkins and was involved in the planning, construction, and installation of the King Memorial Organ at St. Mary’s. When the original St. Mary’s Church, a wooden structure, was demolished, Courboin was involved in the dismantling of the organ in that church, saving pipes and stops that he felt could not be replicated by current manufacturers. This means that parts of the King Memorial Organ go back to the 1850s.
The pipes that are visible in the church are purely decorative, while the pipes that produce the beautiful music we hear are in a room behind those pipes. There are over 2,500 pipes, ranging in size from 16 feet to 3 inches in length, and from two feet to 3/8 of an inch around. Originally, there were 60 miles of copper wire from the console to the pipes. In the mid-1990s, that was replaced with fiber optics. It is a three-manual organ, meaning that it has three keyboards.
The day after the dedication concert, Courboin and his family left for Europe and a 28-city concert tour. His first stop was London, where on Oct. 1, he performed at Westminster Cathedral. Imagine performing at St. Mary’s and then Westminster Cathedral.
All are welcome to attend the 100th anniversary organ concert performed by Dr. Brian DuSell at 4 p.m. on Sept. 21 at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and Shrine, 107 W. 7th St., Oswego, NY.
