Restored Cathedral Organ Will Soon Play Again

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The main organ at St. Patrick’s Cathedral has been restored and reinstalled in its designated loft, of and for high honor.

After a two-year refurbishing process, the gallery organ is presently being tuned so it can be played in time for the Aug. 4 episcopal ordinations of Bishops-Designate Peter J. Byrne, John J. Jenik and John J. O’Hara, respectively.

The organ was dismantled in June 2012, and restored and repaired at the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company in Paterson, N.J. The façade pipes were reinstalled July 17-18; the majority of the interior pipes had previously been reinstalled.

The gallery organ features nearly 10,000 working pipes. The façade pipes are constructed of zinc; the interior pipes are made of tin, lead, zinc and copper.

Dedicated in 1930, the gallery organ, which features an ornate wood façade adorned with angels and Latin inscriptions, required three years to build at a cost of $250,000.

The gallery organ refurbishment is part of the cathedral’s three-year, $177 million restoration project.

The gallery organ is unique in that it is distributed throughout the cathedral, said John Peragallo IV, a Catholic who received a master’s in architectural design in sacred space and cultural studies from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

“When you hear the organ, it really surrounds you—from the floor underneath unto your feet, you feel the rumbling” of the pipes, he said. “It really does capture a lot of the essence of what it feels to be a Catholic.

“It’s capable of filling the entire building. There’s not a spot in the building where the organ doesn’t affect you in a very direct and large way,” he said, adding, “no matter where you’re sitting, it affects you differently each time you come in.” Like the liturgy, “it’s a living Word kind of feeling.”

Before celebrating Mass on St. Patrick’s Day in 2012, Cardinal Dolan announced the start of the extensive project to “repair, restore and renew” the cathedral, which was completed in 1879 after its cornerstone was laid 21 years earlier, in 1858.

Work began in May 2012 and is scheduled to be completed in December 2015.

Mass has continued to be celebrated as restoration personnel work without disruption within the sacred space.