323 pipes dedicated: wiring progressing

August 9th and 323 of the pipes of the pipe organ have been dedicated and sponsored. Many thanks.

Current task in hand: to complete the wiring inside the organ. Air is pumped around the organ by a large bellows to be available to each pipe. At the base of each pipe, there’s an electric magnet which opens and closes the mouth of the pipe and controls whether it gets air to play or not. This magnet is wired back to the keyboard. There’s a magnet for each pipe! A lot of wires!

A look at some of the special magnets and wiring.

Where’s your sponsorship going?

Fair question:

In time, a full account of the costs involved in the Pipe Organ installation will be available. The larger part of the cost arises from the strengthening and re-flooring of the gallery. This has required very careful attention to detail to preserve the integrity and appearance of the gallery because it is part of our heritage, too. However, we are also required to ensure that people who use the church and the gallery are safe. The additional weight of the organ also meant that steel reinforcing needed to be inserted into the gallery between the ceiling and the floor above it. Thankfully, there was adequate space there to enable this to be done. The new floor will also be tiered to safe levels for the choir.

Some of the costs incurred to date are:-

  • Reinforced Steel supports €10,550
  • Engineering fees €4,000
  • Timber flooring €4,800
  • Rebuild and re-leather the main organ bellows €4,278
  • Cost of other components which had to be replaced, including all electrical parts €9.082

July 31: And 287 of the pipes have been dedicated and sponsored

Many, many thanks. We are getting close to the half-way mark! 287 of the pipes of the Pipe Organ for Enniskeane’s parish church have been dedicated and sponsored.

The majority of the dedications have come from parishioners. Many have also come from outside the parish and several from abroad. Many of the pipes have been dedicated to loved ones who have died; many are dedicated to the living as well.

The task of installing the organ is proceeding on schedule. We hope to have it playing by August 20th, which is the 134th anniversary of when it was first played in the Convent in Clonakilty as three young Mercy Sisters took their final solemn vows as religious.

 

Professor T. J. O’Sullivan, the pipe organ’s designer

The 1878 Pipe Organ installed in Clonakilty Convent – and now installed in Enniskeane Church – was built in London but it was designed by a Cork music teacher and organist.
Professor T. J. O’Sullivan, taught music in the city and was the organist at St. Mary’s Dominican Church, Pope’s Quay, Cork.

  • 1856: The Trade and Professional section of Slater’s Cork City Directory lists T. J. Sullivan as a Professor of Music at 14, Bridge St., Cork (the short street between Patrick’s Bridge and McCurtain St.)
  • 1863: In the CORK (CITY) MERCANTILE DIRECTORY FOR 1863, he is listed at 68, South Mall as “Sullivan, T. J., prof. of music”.
  • 1870: The Slater’s Directory list his address as 74, Lower Glanmire Road (near the Railway Station).
  • 1871: He is listed as living at 6, Adelaide Terrace, Summerhill, Cork, and again listed there in 1875.
  • 1880, July 25th: The Freeman’s Journal notes that at the dedication of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty, “The music was supplied from the new organ gallery by the Choir of St. Mary’s, Cork, under leadership of Mr. T. J. O’Sullivan.”
  • 1884: Francis Guy’s Almanac lists the staff of the Cork School of Music, 51 Grand Parade, naming T. J. Sullivan as Professor of “Solfeggio and Sight Seeing”, and of “Voice Cultivation”
  • 1887: The ‘Irish American’ announces that the successor of “the late Mr. T. J. Sullivan, as organist and choirmaster of St. Mary’s” is about to arrive from Carlow — implying that Mr Sullivan must have died by then.

Spread the word with a positive note!

Enniskeane parish has special connections with people in all counties and in many parts of the world. Many of them will want to be associated with the installation of the pipe organ in our parish church by sponsoring a pipe and dedicating it to family members – past or present.

But – as St. Paul said – they will not know if they are not told. So please spread the word. Simply let them know about this website. They can take it from there.

The principal section of the 1878 Pipe Organ in place on the gallery of Enniskeane Church.

Organ Sponsorship update (July 5)

Each pipe in the organ plays a unique note. Some are made from wood, most are metal.
  • July 5, 2012, The number of pipes sponsored in the Enniskeane Church Pipe Organ is now at 140. (Includes all those that arrived after the weekend at Mass, by post, and online). Many thanks.
  • As of July 3, 2012, the number of pipes dedicated and sponsored in the Pipe Organ for Enniskeane Church is 87.
  • As of June 29th, 2012, the number of pipes dedicated and sponsored in the Pipe Organ for Enniskeane Church is 74.

Many thanks to all who have sponsored the pipes.