The organ in its original location, a church turned daycare in Williamstown, western Massachusetts

by Malcolm Halliday

The Johnson pipe organ at the Temple de la Tercera Orden in the Franciscan convent had an interesting journey to reach San Miguel. Johnson and Son was an outstanding builder of pipe organs located in Westfield, Massachusetts. The firm built over 800 pipe organs between 1844 and 1898. The organ at the templo is opus 447 of the firm, and was built in the middle of the golden years of the firm. Though not a large instrument, the organ displays all the qualities for which the firm was justly celebrated, including beautiful voicing and a splendid and well balanced chorus, produced when all the stops are drawn. The Johnson firm used the highest quality materials, and their pipe organs always displayed high standards of workmanship.

Chorale San Miguel A.C. began operations in late 2019, shortly before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first concert of the chorus before the shutdown was a complete presentation of Handel's Messiah. During that time, a relationship was forged with the San Franciscan Convent in San Miguel to allow the Chorale to hold concerts in the Templo ("Capilla") de la Tercera Orden.

This original church of the Franciscans in San Miguel was constructed in the early 1600s, over a century before the larger Baroque church built 1778 to 1798 by the Franciscans at the same plaza on Calle de San Francisco. The Templo is just celebrated for a beautiful acoustic, nearly perfect for organ and choral music.

The vaulted ceiling above the altar with decoration depicting St. Frances holding the baby Jesus.
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Two active members of the San Miguel cultural community (passionate music-lover and businessman Jonathon Hartzler and pianist, organist and conductor Malcolm Halliday - author of this article) met with the then current "guardian" of the convent, Padre Octavio Luna, to finalize plans for concerts at the Templo. Padre Octavio Luna, now currently working and living in Querétaro, was born and raised in San Miguel and had a deep understanding of San Miguel and the local Franciscan community. When asked what Chorale San Miguel could do for the convent in return for the privilege of using the Templo as a superb concert venue, Padre Octavio Luna gave an immediate reply. Without hesitation, he said that the convent could use a real pipe organ. This request proved to be an inspired choice, but also a daunting challenge, made even more difficult to undertake with the onset of the Covid-19 epidemic just a few months later.

The first matter to resolve was where such an organ could go. This was not as easy as might first seem. The magnificent main church had possessed a large organ in the back balcony, and there were still people alive in the San Miguel community who remembered it being played in their youth. However any organ to be installed there would ideally require a larger installation to match both the space in the balcony as well as be to scale with the gladness of the building. The Templo also had a smaller balcony in the back, but it was not easy to reach, and the steps to the balcony were not safe to use, so installing an organ there was not deemed practical.

Any organ project is an ambitious undertaking and it was immediately recognized that an organ in the front of the church (often referred to as a "choir organ") was more realistic as a first organ project for the convent. Given that Chorale San Miguel was already using the Templo for its concerts, it was decided to search for a smaller organ to fit in the left front corner of the building.

The organ, still mostly in boxes, waiting to be reassembled into the left front corner in October 2024
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Another member of the local cultural scene, the Rev. Thomas Rosiello had extensive experience as a manager years before in North America of the English pipe organ firm J. W. Walker. He became involved in discussions of whether it was better to purchase a used pipe organ or consider a new instrument. The saga of deciding about these issues, fundraising and eventually bringing a pipe organ to San Miguel will be the subject in the next installment of this series about this venerable instrument.

The organ reassembled underneath a portrait of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, playing a pipe organ
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The Johnson organ is used frequently in concerts by Chorale San Miguel and the Organ Festival of San Miguel, in addition to being used by the Franciscan community for worship services and other local events. An important outreach of Chorale San Miguel is organ concerts offered for no charge to the community. These free "Organ Plus" concerts are made possible by San Miguel music supporters John and Joy Bitner.

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