Flashback
20 years ago
Fisk Organ arrives at UB
UB’s Fisk Organ in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus, is 20 years old. Handcrafted by the firm of C.B. Fisk Inc. of Gloucester, Mass., the completed organ was tested on July 6, 1989, then disassembled for transport to Buffalo. The 20-ton organ arrived at UB on July 31, and staff from Fisk spent more than eight months installing, connecting and adjusting the instrument.
Planning for the new organ began in 1964. Delays in the construction of the North Campus meant that the original amount budgeted for the organ was inadequate. The search for additional funding, combined with stringent New York State purchasing requirements, added further delay. It was not until Aug. 5, 1988, that UB representatives, led by music professor David Fuller, were able to go to the Fisk facility and work out the final specifications for the organ.
As described in the winter 1990 issue of UB Today, the organ was considered exceptional in several respects. It was constructed as a mechanical-action organ, “giving the performer more variables than an organ controlled electronically,” and it was a large instrument for the 750-seat concert space. The makers also considered it an eclectic instrument, not intended for “the repertoire of a specific country or period.” Fuller had convinced the Fisk company to incorporate a pneumatic lever ”to assist the organist in pieces that require a large number of stops to be used at the same time,” thus, expanding the repertoire for performers.
Since the inaugural concert on April 21, 1990, UB faculty and students and many guest artists have performed on the Fisk Organ.
—John Edens, University Archives
Reader Comments