New-York tribune., 1896-11-02
A AMAGNIFICENT NEW ORGAN
THE CHURCH OF ST vINCEr!T DE PAUL's
ACQUISITION
NINE FEuRDENT. CRGANIsT AND CHoIRMAsrER.
ONE OF THE FIRST WOMEN TO HOLD

ONE OF THE FIRST WOMrN ~ ttObC
SUCH AN OFFICE IN NEw-yoRK.
The Church OF st. Vincent de Pau. in West
TIVE y third st. has been In the hands OF deco
rators and organ builders for the last three months
and the former will continue to hod sway till
Christmas probably. but the rev organ Is at last
completed II was used for the first time yesterday.
which happened most ft;ingly TO be the Feast OF
All Saints
The programme for the morning was as fcEcws:
Mssse soionele h,,,,
'''e' '''' Soprano tenor. bass
Organ postluda ''''
In the evening vespers for the Dead were sung,
the occasion being the OF All Souls
The organ built by Muller & Abel. late OF
the Roosevelt Organ Works. and Is remarkable not
only for Its size but for perfection OF finish and
workmanship. II has three manuals, 2'i4 pipes and
"a stops II In the great 10 In the swell organ
In the choir organ and in the pedal organ
The mechanism Is OF the most perfect character,
and every known precau;Ion has been taken to
eliminate friction noise and last. motion. The
wlndches,s tubular pneumatic In principle ana
the construction and operation are such as to pre-
Guide al! the arrangements attendant IN the case
o. most organs upon thermometric and barometric
variations. Consequently Il viii have 10 be tuned
ordinarily only once a year In the "voicng' the
greatest deicacy OF tone In the different stops has
been combined with great power in the full organ,
while the action Is easy tha, the keys respond
the slightes, touch. The organ can be b.cwn
either by hand electricity
novel feature is the character OF the crescendo
and dimnuendo pedals which enables the organ
list, by single stroke. and without disturbing the
existing arrangement of stops, to obtain gradual
from the softest stop TO the full organ. and
vice versa, the rapdiiy Of both being regulated by
the degree of speed used in pressing down or raising
the pedal Another strong point Is the tubular
pneumatic coupler by means OF which the player
car nia tta n,
can so used either Of the silent organs can
be coupled with the being played on. or both
be coupled with 1t al once just as the organst
wishes whereas, the only kind OF coupling once
attainable was that in which the three keys one IN
each manual all went down together.
But the most interesting thing OF all about the
organ, from a Woman's Page point OF view, is that
1t is played by a woman. Nine G. l.. Feurdent,
notwithstanding the fact that there are still indi-
vlduals who would look upon It an utter physical
impossoility for woman to play Dig ,hree-maAuai
Nine. Feurden, has been organst and choirmaster
in New-York In a Roman Catholic church she
much in Roman Catholic churches than In
others, as the music constitutes such large part
OF the services, and there Is musca. committee
to share the responsibility Of 1t with the director.
A. 81 Vincent de Pau!s the work Is plrucuary
difficult, as there services In bJth French and
English. and there mus, be separate French and
Every chormas,er knows what work it is to hold
a volunteer choir together, but Nine. Feirient has
TWO such bodies TO contend with. and has never had
any trouble with either
1T Is enough" she says when you interes,
the choir. but directors generally lind that pre-
cisey The most difficult thing in the world to do.
In order to accomplish 1t one must be i thorou3h
musician and thoroughly In love with ones work:
Nine. Feurdsn is both II she were to become a
Millionaire tomorrow, she declares. she would never
give up her 1t Is small wonder. therefore.
that the singers do not mind coming rehearsal.
and thit she can attempt with them than is
ordinarily possible with volunteers
Al one tim" she conducted a sigh-reading class.
keeping II up for about two years. and as a result
ali her chorsters now read very well. The choir
usually consists OF paid quarrel with chorus
Of twenty voices. and for special occasions the
French and English cholrs are Joined.
Nine Feurdent was a pupil of Nledermeyer, the
great French organist. and studied singing with
Revii. She has composed several masses and done
a great dea. Of adapiatcn.
The Cnurch OF s. Vincent de Paul Is In IN, charge
or the Fathers OF Mercy, a French order |; Is
noted for having the most beautiful vestments in
the country. The work OF them done by
nuns In Holland Is so fine that can scarcely
believe mat Il Is not painting Ye, every line .s
traced wiki needle.