Joe Carere remembers as a child being in awe of the lush strings and booming bass that emerged from the Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate’s grand organ.
The glory of Handel’s Messiah consuming the congregation at Christmas and Easter. The hymns mourning the loss of loved ones at funerals. The joy of the Wedding March at countless weddings.
“I remember when I was about four years old when I heard the sound of the organ and said ‘I'd like to play that some time,’” says Carere, a lifelong Guelph resident and former altar boy at Church of Our Lady.
“John Marrin was the organist at the time and he was gracious enough to let me play a hymn after one of the masses when I was about six. I had the bug and I just had to keep going.
“It’s a work of art, really,” said Carere, who since 2008 has been music director at the church on the hill.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the church’s organ.
From the floor of the church one only sees 50 metal pipes, framed by an ornate oak casing.
Hidden behind are another 2,950 wood and metal pipes, shipped in and assembled over months in 1919 and maintained and fixed over the years.
The metal pipes are made of a mixture of zinc, lead and tin. The wooden pipes which make the deep rumble sounds are made of different types of wood, some of them are 32 feet in length.
Two turbines, one high pressure and one low pressure, to power the constant wind supply needed and humidifiers run in the winter to help prevent the wood from drying out.
Original plans called for 500 pipes at the front of the church also, but that never happened.
Carere estimates the entire organ weighs around 30 tonnes.
The organ was made by Casavant Frères in St. Hyacinthe, Que., a world-renowned organ company founded in 1879 by former blacksmith Joseph Casavant.
Famous French composer and organ player Joseph Bonnet did the dedication concert.
“That would have been a really big deal back then.”
According to the plaque on the organ, the Basilica’s organ is the 796th made by the Casavant. They’re now up to around 4,000.
“They’re still going strong and they’re still made the same way. All by hand.”
The total cost of the organ in 1919 was $11,490. The church paid $5,000 up front and financed the rest over the next five years.
According to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator, that’s $164,404 in today’s dollars.
“Back then, that was a lot of money, considering that to build this church in 1876 was $1.2 million,” Carere said.
Carere said to purchase the same organ today would cost roughly $3 million.
The organ’s “voice” in the French style, a more full, orchestral tone as opposed to the sharper English style, Carere said.
“It’s a very romantic, lush, big sound rather than the harsh, higher pitch sound found in English and German organs,” Carere said. “Big flute sounds, big string sounds.”
The entire organ is original, although there have been some minor modernizing and refurbishing over the years.
The organ was out of commission when the Basilica was renovated in 2015. The pipes were all removed, cleaned and refurbished then and a portable digital piano on the floor of the church filled in while the renovations were done.
There was another time in the early ‘80s for a few weeks for a major repair.
Carere is only the fourth full-time organist in 100 years, following Cliff McLelland, John Marrin and Simon Irving.
Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March would be the hands-down winner of the most played piece.
The organ, Carere said, can be expensive to maintain. It is also tuned four to six times a year.
“A little repair is not a little repair,” he said. “It’s big dollars.”
Carere notes that the Catholic Women’s League has been very supportive in financing those elements.
Easter is coming and Carere will get to perform his favourite piece on the organ: Handel’s Messiah.
“We have the choir and the orchestra up here as well. That’s probably my favourite. It’s a joyous time of year.”
A concert to mark the 100th anniversary of the organ will be held Friday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m.
It will feature Nicholas Capozzoli with the Organix Festival Brass Ensemble. Tickets are $20 and $25 and can be purchased online. 18 and under are free.
