News April 2008
Foundation Finishes Special Project
for Frye Art Museum
The Pipe Organ Foundation has finished constructing a small pipe organ for the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. The Museum plans to run a special series of displays about Mr. Frye and his life from April through August of this year. An interactive display was desired to help convey the type of person that Mr. Frye was. Not widely known is the fact that Mr. Frye had a player pipe organ made by the Welte company in Germany in his home. When no longer owned by the Frye family, the organ was parted out and the whereabouts of most of its parts is now unknown. However, Mr. Charles Wassberg of Seattle had one of the groups of pipes from this organ, and he generously donated it to the Pipe Organ Foundation. This rank is a two foot Principal rank, a fifteenth. The Pipe Organ Foundation worked with the Museum to put together a small pipe organ display using original pipes from Mr. Frye's organ. This will be the backbone of an interactive display.
The photograph above shows the pipe organ that was assembled to display the pipes of Mr. Frye's Organ. Wesley Spore, Vice President of the Pipe Organ Foundation, worked with the Museum and put together the instrument for an interactive display. Below is the final product, a small pipe organ, being played by Wes.
The organ is specifically set up so that anyone going through the museum displays can twist a knob which turns on the organ, and play a tune on it, hearing the very pipes which Mr. Frye treasured.
Many thanks to Wes for his dedicated expertise and the hours devoted to this project in order to meet the goals of the Foundation and the Museum. It will greatly benefit the general public visiting the Museum.
GETTING INVOLVED
You are invited to be involved in the Pipe Organ Foundation. Volunteers are needed to do bench work in the Foundation facilities on Mercer Island. The work is repetitive but not strenuous and it is in a pleasant environment. Contact Carl to inquire. Financial contributions are especially welcome at this time as they would make possible the projects outlined above plus others in the planning stage. Contact us with any questions you may have.