Seated behind three rows of keys and columns of buttons, Sarah Johnson pulled out all the stops she could to bathe the sanctum of Trinity Church on the Green in a timeless ethereal whirl of baroque music.
Johnson, the church’s organist and associate musical director, was seated at “Sister Soosie” — the church’s nickname for the Aeolian-Skinner Opus 927 organ that has ushered the congregation into song and trained organists for 90 years.
On this weekday morning, Johnson was alone in the sanctuary as she summoned Bach’s Prelude in E flat major. (Click on the above video to watch her perform.) She reached for pre-synthesizer-era buttons that summoned trumpet or string or oboe facsimiles to add grandeur and texture to the melody, substituting some stops for others that no longer work. She covered for dead notes like the G below middle C. She knew which keys would stick and play continuously in the background.
For while wood-and-ivory-and-leather-made Sister Soosie remains “a piece of history, a work of art, and a source of inspiration,” in Johnson’s words — she’s also showing her age.
The organ still does its job. You’d need to have Johnson’s history with the instrument to notice what’s missing.
But it’s time, Trinity has decided, to repair the imperfections and return the historic organ to its former grandeur. The church has launched a $400,000 first-phase fundraiser to restore the console. (A later phase will tackle work on the organ’s 4,215 pipes.)
The drive features a six-concert series beginning June 26. (See the flyer at the bottom of the story for details on the series and the fundraising drive, and donate to the campaign here.) Walter Moore, the church’s previous director of music for 40 years, will return to play the inaugural concert. Johnson will close out the series by performing on July 31.
A question-and-answer session will follow each concert with opportunities for attendees to play a note or two.
“We’re trying to raise awareness,” along with the money, Johnson said. “This is a piece of New Haven’s cultural heritage. We would love to get more people to hear it and be aware of the fact that it exists.”
The organ represents the “American classic” style, equipped to play both symphonic and early 20th-century American styles of music, according to Johnson. (Click here to read a write-up she provided about its history.) A Court Street firm called A. Thompson-Allen Company has maintained the instrument lovingly, which is why it still sounds so good, Johnson said. But time still takes a toll: The relay systems, consisting of thousands of wires throughout the inside of the console, gradually fail and break over the years. With the upcoming series, New Haveners of all spiritual persuasions will have a chance to appreciate how a grand organ in the right setting can provide a key to an otherworldly portal, while also contributing to keeping a tradition going for future generations.
“It’s a very sensitive instrument,” Johnson said after completing a segment of the Bach prelude. “It feels like being a part of history to play it.”
