News

Unique organ to be utilized in Immanuel’s 125th anniversary

By Scott Wagar

06/24/2014

As Immanuel Lutheran Church celebrates its 125th anniversary this weekend, there is a unique gift within the church that has brought many blessings to its congregation for well over a century.

The gift to its parishioners is a Vogelpohl and Spaeth pipe organ, and since the early 1900s the church members of Immanuel have heard this organ produce what Thomas Carlye refers to as listening to the morning stars sing together.

The Vogelpohl and Spaeth pipe organ holds an honorable place in Germanic-Americana history and it is a musical instrument that today is sought after by many music historians in the field. As for Immanuel’s Vogelpohl and Spaeth, how the pipe organ came to the church is incredible story in itself, and it brings a rich history to Bottineau County and its German immigrants.

Immanuel Lutheran Church originated in the county in the late 1800s when German pioneers homesteaded the land in and around the Willow City area. The Vogelpohl and Spaeth came into existence in the church’s history in 1902 when the congregation made the decision to purchase a pipe organ.

The parishioners of Immanuel made the choice to request a Vogelpohl and Spaeth because at that time in U.S. history the company made some of the most elite pipe organs in the Midwest and did so through the owners own hands.

The Vogelpohl and Spaeth Organ Firm was established by Hermann Vogelpohl and Jacob Spaeth in 1890 and was located in New Ulm, Minn., from 1890 to 1919 when Vogelpohl passed away.

Vogelpohl’s heritage was made up of Prussian immigrants, while Spaeth’s ancestors came from Germany. Both families migrated to New Ulm in the mid-1800s and the two men became acquainted through a mutual interest in music, carpentry and the mechanics of just about any moveable part known to mankind in the 1800s.

Vogelpohl and Spaeth opened a small shop behind Vogelpohl’s home and in its history they created 100 pipe organs for churches and schools. What gave the company such a great name was due to how Vogelpohl and Spaeth conducted their business in building and distributing their organs.

In the history of the company, it appears the two men’s own hands personally created every part of the organ which was ordered from clients, which they fully assembled in the shop.

Once the organ was completed, a photograph was taken of the pipe organ, then disassembled and moved in parts to its permanent location.

In the transition of the organs, a member of the firm would travel with the organs and then personally assisted the company’s clients in assembling the pipe organ back together.

Immanuel Lutheran Church’s Vogelpohl and Spaeth was no different. When the organ was completed, Vogelpohl and Spaeth dismantled the organ and shipped it to Willow City in pieces.

Once in Willow City, the pieces were placed on a horse drawn wagon and taken out to Immanuel where a representative of the organ company, who traveled with the organ, selected a small number of parishioners to assist him in reassembling the pipe organ.

The creation of a Vogelpohl and Spaeth organ was a masterpiece in itself. The casework of their organs were made of a special treated cured oak, while the facade of the pipes were decorated in time consuming detailed with the company’s signature look of soft shades of brown and green with highlights of silver and gold leaf (this changed in 1914, when the company started to paint it pipes with a dark gold or brown).

Time consuming might be putting it mildly. Immanuel’s congregation ordered their pipe organ in 1902, but had to wait over four years to have it delivered because it took that long to construct the organ.

Depending on the size of the organ, each organ had hundreds of pipes with perfect pitch in each and every note the organist would play. Immanuel’s organ has eight different ranks of pipes, which total 488 pipes that create each their own sound from the 61 keys the organist has to play.

The pipe organ holds a tracker action, which means that the mechanical linkage is between the keys or pedals that opens the valves to allow air to flow into pipes to play the correspondent notes. Immanuel’s Vogelpohl and Spaeth has a tracker action with one pedal board and one key board.

When it comes to the facade pipes, there are a total of 21 pipes with the middle pipe reaching to a height of 16 feet.

To understand the value of Immanuel’s Vogelpohl and Spaeth organ, and the determination of it members to receive one of the finest organs in the country, the parishioners paid $1,000 for the pipe organ in 1906.

Considering the small size of Immanuel’s congregation in 1902 and the hard economic times, the church members of Immanuel made great sacrifices to purchase the organ. One story that is told in the area is that some people went without shoes just to pay for the organ to have its beautiful music play within its church.    

One of the primary organists for Immanuel was Bill Niewoehner, a local farmer and educator in the community who studied music at Elmhurst College in Illinois and played the organ at Immanuel for 45 years.

Today, the Vogelpohl and Spaeth pipe organ at Immanuel still plays music throughout the sanctuary of the church and the instrument is considered a priceless piece because it is only one of three of its kind that is known to still exist in the country today.    

This weekend, as the Immanuel celebrates 125 years in service to God, the congregation will celebrated in style with its 108 year old Vogelpohl and Spaeth pipe organ. Grace and blessings cannot come in a better way than in that manner.   

Sources: “A Century of Sharing the Faith,” “Vogelpohl & Spaeth, Organ Builders New Ulm, Minnesota,” The Pierce County Tribune and Wikipedia.