OPUS 1280 HISTORY
Aeolian Organ Company built their Opus 1280 for Helen Gould Shepard in 1914.
It was installed in her home (inherited from her father, Jay Gould)
located at 579 5th Avenue, New York. (the Northeast corner of 47th
Street and 5th Avenue) Opus 1280 remained at that location, unaltered,
until 1948. At that time, the home was being readied for sale, and
the organ was bought by Johnston Stewart of Convent Station, New Jersey.
Johnston Stewart had been an aficionado of Aeolian Organs for years,
from about 1920. As a young man, he had won entrance to many
mansions in which Aeolians were installed. He accomplished this by
establishing a friendship with Archer Gibson who was personal organist
to several wealthy Aeolian patrons. Gibson was an important figure
at Aeolian. He made many rolls (75) for the Aeolian player organ
and helped with selling several large Aeolian organs.
It was Archer Gibson who alerted Johnston Stewart that Opus 1280 was available
for acquisition. Following the installation in the Stewart residence,
Gibson frequently played Opus 1280 as a guest.
The organ remained in the Stewart residence until purchased by Robert
W. Taylor in 1998. Included in the purchase was a large collection
of 116 note rolls and a smaller collection of Duo Art rolls accumulated by
Johnston Stewart. Stewart had acquired the rolls from the Garwood,
New Jersey Aeolian factory, and various patrons of Aeolian. Notable
in that group was John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and his daughter Alta, and his
son John D., jr.
Opus 1280 could only play the non automatic, 116 note rolls. But like
all Aeolian organs, upgrade to the fully automatic Duo Art roll system could
be accomplished easily. Johnston Stewart planned the upgrade by acquiring
a Duo Art roll playing Concertola. Concertola #232, a ten roll
changer, initially owned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and subsequently owned
by Alta Rockefeller Prentice, was gifted to Johnston Stewart in 1960 in memory
of Archer Gibson. Concertola #232 was included, with the entire roll
collection, when Taylor purchased Opus 1280 from Margaret Stewart, widow
of Johnston, in 1998.
Aeolian Opus 1280 has been fully restored. The restoration tasks were
started in 1998 and have continued through 2005. In addition to replacing
all worn components and wiring, a MIDI interface has been added to the organ.
Now, the MIDI can record a performance into computer files, and the process
may be reversed as those files are used to play the organ. Most
of the rolls, now stored in MIDI files, can be heard through the MIDI system
while the fragile rolls are safely stored.
Four methods of playing the organ now exist. It may be played by hand,
it can play the non automatic 116 note rolls, it can play Duo Art rolls from
the Concertola, and it can play from the MIDI system.
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