Charles Brenton Fisk

On February 7, 1925, Fisk was born in Washington, DC, United States. His parents were Brenton Kern Fisk, a lawyer, and Amelia Worthington Fisk, a social worker and an advocate for women's suffrage.[3] In the early 1930s, Fisk's family relocated to the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.[4] There, he joined the choir of Christ Church at Cambridge Common as a soprano. The choirmaster was E. Power Biggs who also served as the organist.[5] However, this experience was mostly forgotten by adult Fisk.[6]^: 87 Alongside choir, he played trumpets and organs.[5]

When Fisk was 13 years old, he was gifted a reed organ, to which he carried out minor repairs.[7] One of Fisk's friends recalled that he fiddled with electromechanical devices, with him building his own amplifiers when he was 14 years old.[5] Fisk later said that organ music was his favorite to play on the amplifiers because it "showed the amplifier off". He was well-versed in creating tube amplifiers. Acquaintances of Fisk's parents often requested an amplifier built by Fisk.[6]^: 88

Charles Fisk's USA army ID from 1945.

He studied at The Cambridge School of Weston from 1938, and graduated from the school in 1942.[8][7] In 1943, Fisk secured a job in the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory with the aid of his physicist uncle, Joyce Stearns, who also worked there.[5][1] Stearns suggested to Fisk's parents that Fisk should work with him in the laboratory to avoid the draft. At the time, Fisk was 17 years old and eligible to be drafted.[7][1]

Soon after graduating from high school, he was drafted into World War II.[3] As part of the draft, he was transferred to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in July 1944.[5][8] Fisk later recounted that his director in the Metallurgical Laboratory sent him to Los Alamos because he was enlisted to the army.[6]^: 88

While at Los Alamos, Fisk was assigned as an electronics technician and a lab helper in the Bomb Physics division.[3] He worked under Darol Froman with 20 other people. As a member of the 9812th Special Engineer Detachment, Fisk was part of a unit that collected knowledgeable people for research.[1][9] His job included soldering pre-amps, which is a component for electronic sensors, which in turn were used to measure how well the detonator imploded in a perfect sphere during atomic bomb testing. He worked as a part of the Manhattan Project, helping to create the atomic bomb.[4][5] However, he was not made aware of his involvement until some weeks before the bomb was launched.[1]

“The work I am doing means nothing to me. That is, I don't understand what the object of it is. Of course, the principle of the whole thing is secrecy, and I am just as much in the dark about the project as you are. My official status is ‘Lab helper in the Metallurgical Lab of the University of Chicago.’ Metallurgy and the University of Chicago have about as much to do with the project as a baby elephant.”[1]

— Charles Fisk, letter to his parents in February 1943

After World War II ended, Fisk studied at Harvard University for a major in physics.[10] Continuing his interest in music, at the Memorial Church of Harvard University, he joined the choir and Harvard's Glee Club.[7] He successfully graduated from Harvard with an undergraduate degree in physics in 1949.[3][1]

After graduating, Fisk wished to stay in New Mexico and was offered a position as an assistant in Los Alamos. However, because of his father's deteriorating health and the desire to stay with Ann Lindenmuth, who would be Fisk's future spouse, he was unable to accept the offer.[7] Fisk researched at Brookhaven National Laboratory, studying cosmic rays for one and a half years. From 1950 to 1951, he left for California to complete his education in physics.[3][6]^: 89 There, he attended Stanford University for a physics PhD.[1] At Stanford, Fisk studied organ with the American organist Herbert Nanney and became an apprentice of the organ builder John Swinford.[11][3] He left Stanford's physics curriculum after only completing one six-week semester,[3][1] and ended up switching to a music curriculum.[2]^: 1 The Boston Globe and The Diapason attributed Fisk's decision to move away from physics to the unease he felt for contributing to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[9][3] However, an opinion essay from The Georgia Review, instead argues that attributing his career change on solely on moral grounds is an oversimplification.[1] In a letter Fisk sent to his parents on August 12, 1945, he wrote:

"With only two bombs we have killed between 250,000 and 300,000 Japanese people. Divided evenly over the number of people on the project, each member is responsible for the death of four Japanese. I cannot count this as an honor."[5]

and that

"As for myself, I see no reason why you should not tell people of my association with this project. Despite all the foregoing, there has been introduced into our lives an element of pride, the pride that accompanies the success of a mission. I think I can look a combat soldier in the eye now. If you feel like being a little proud too, that's OK. But bear in mind that this is not basically something to be proud of, and if you feel like offering a prayer for the human race, now is a good time."[1]

In October 1950, Fisk wrote to his parents to tell them that he was switching to a career in music.[11] Fisk continued working part-time as an apprentice under John Swinford in Redwood City, California,[5][12] while also studying under the professors Putnam Aldrich and George Houle.[2]^: 1 One of the first time that Fisk worked on an organ was when he assisted Swinford in building the organ for Trinity Episcopal Church.[3] After Holtkamp offered him a position in 1952, and in 1954, Fisk became an apprentice of Walter Holtkamp at Cleveland, Ohio after John's urging.[7][5][2]^: 1 He learned various aspects of shop technique under Holtkamp, which was a something that his apprenticeship with Swinford had lacked.[3][7] Eventually, he dropped out of his music degree program to focus on organ building.[12]

In a later interview by Keith Yocum when Fisk was 54 years old, Fisk commented:

"I don't know enough about Hiroshima and Nagasaki to know what was lost there, culturally, but I know what was lost in some of the big cities in Europe, which seems much more tragic to me right now. For instance, I can't get over what an incredible tragedy existed in one particular place: Katharinenkirche—St. Catherine's Church—in Hamburg, where there was an organ that Bach played, that was just perfect. . . . The joys that could have come out of that one particular instrument were such that. . . . I just think of what was lost."[1]

On this quote, an essay published in The Georgia Review wrote that "I cringe at the way that a mere thing—a musical instrument—took a privileged place over human lives in his late calculations [...] Empathy is fundamentally an act of imagination: we imagine variations on what we know, and so it was the loss of the organ that Charlie most keenly felt".[1]

In 1955, Fisk returned to New England from Cleveland. Afterward, he became a partner of the Andover Organ Company in Methuen, Massachusetts, a few years after the company was founded in 1948 by Thomas W. Byers.[3][13] Like Fisk, Byers was an organ builder who preferred manual organs over electric ones.[14] In 1958, Fisk took full ownership after Byers left the company,[14] and changed the firm's name to C.B. Fisk, Inc. in 1960. In 1961, Fisk moved the workplace to a more spacious recycled factory in Gloucester, Massachusetts.[3][11][2]^: 1 As a result of the move, employees had to relocate from Methuen to Gloucester. Employees who did not wish to move stayed in Methuen and established a new firm with the former namesake, Andover Organ Company. This is distinct from the original Andover Organ Company, which Fisk renamed C. B. Fisk, Inc.[2]^: 2 After Fisk's death, C. B. Fisk, Inc. continues to manufacture organs to the present day,[3] with it becoming an employee-owned company.[15]

C.B. Fisk, Inc. employed notable organists Barbara Owen, Fritz Noack, and John Brombaugh.[16] Some of these organists have moved on from the Fisk's company and created their own organ-building companies, with Noack establishing the Noack Organ Company[17] and Brombaugh establishing the John Brombaugh & Associates.[18]

Fisk's first marriage was with Ann Warren Lindenmuth, from which they had a son and a daughter.[3]^: 5 For his second marriage, he married Virginia Lee Crist, who was from Gloucester. He and Crist married at Rockport, Massachusetts.[19] Crist and Fisk had two daughters and a son.[20]

Fisk died on December 16, 1983, aged 58 years,[4] due to a liver autoimmune condition at Philips House, Massachusetts General Hospital.[1] Fisk lived with a condition named sclerosing cholangitis for nearly 3 decades, but it was only diagnosed a few years before his death.[1] Fisk's funeral was held on December 20, 1983, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Gloucester. Following on January 21, 1984, a memorial service for Fisk was held in the Memorial Church of Harvard University.[3]

Fisk was a member of the American Pipe Organ Association, the International Society of Organ Builders, the American Institute of Organ Builders, the Organ Historical Society, and the American Guild of Organists.[8]

1984 Fisk-Nanney organ in the Stanford Memorial Church (op. 85)

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In contrast with the tracker-action organs of the baroque period,[21] the prevalent practice in early 20th-century organ building was the use of electro-pneumatic action mechanisms. However, Fisk was among the first builders to break this norm; he adopted the tracker action and stop action mechanisms of historical European and American organs, making him one of the first modern American organ builders to do so.[5] This is a part of a larger movement called Organ Reform Movement, which Fisk was cited as a major participant of by American Organist Magazine.[22]

In tracker action organs, the movement of the keys or pedals is mechanically linked to the valve, enabling air to flow through the organ pipes. On the other hand, in electro-pneumatic action, valves and keys connected through electricity, without the use of mechanical trackers.[14] In organ, a manual is a set of keys that are played with the hands, similar to the keyboard on a piano. However, unlike a piano, an organ can have multiple manuals, which are stacked on top of each other.[23]

To further his understanding of traditional organs, Fisk studied features of historical European organs. He then tried to emulate them in his organs.[3][5][24] Trips to European countries were commonplace,[11][21] with the first one being in 1959, where he traveled with Arthur Howes.[2]^: 7 Fisk was particularly interested in the organ located in Jakobikirche church, and he made three journeys to Germany to studied the organ.[25]

In addition to organ building, Fisk restored various historical organs.[8] Barbara Owens, a former collaborator of Fisk, wrote that his works were influenced by German and French organs.[2]^: 29 His organs were described to have an eclectic nature, as he never stuck to only one style of organ building.[26]

Fisk numbered his organ works with opus numbers. Some opuses were never built due to cancellations. Some were merely additions and restorations of former organs. Additionally, opus numbers 1 through 24 were not built by Fisk. This was because he continued the preexisting opus numbers of the Andover Organ Company, meaning it was built by Byers.[2]^: 2

Opus 24 through 27 was built when Byers and Fisk co-owned the Andover organ company and opus 28 through 35 was built before the rebranding to C. B. Fisk, Inc. Opus 35 through 85 was built by C. B. Fisk, Inc. when Fisk was still alive, and rest was built after his death.[2]^: 77–82

Jones Boyds, an organist in Stetson University, wrote that Fisk had mixed views on the organ being used along with an orchestra, basing it on this quote from Fisk: "[T]he fortunes of the organ and of the orchestra are to an extent mutually exclusive and my personal view is that the one instrument takes the place of the other [...] There is a human craving, musically speaking, for a towering musical effect. The organ satisfied this craving for hundreds of years before the 19th century orchestra took it over". Still, Fisk studied concert hall organs ever since 1976.[27]

Jonathan Ambrosino, an organ historian, wrote that although he was inspired by older organs, he added his own personal touches rather than exactly replicating historical organs.[28]

In 1968, The Diapason published an article written by Fisk called "The Organ's Breath of Life" in which he argued in favor of using historical organ wind systems.[24] In his essay, he wrote that organs should return the "warbling" sound of hand-cranked wind supply with mechanical changes to the electrical wind supply. This idea was negatively received in its publication[29] but now is an industry-standard.[30][6]^: 92–93

THE ORGAN IS…A MACHINE, whose machine-made sounds will always be without interest unless they can appear to be coming from a living organism. The organ has to seem to be alive.

— Charles Fisk, Organ's Breath of Life[31]

In September 1987, Fisk wrote an article named "Some Thoughts on Pipe Metal" in which he described the differences between the tonal qualities of metals used in pipes. He described lead pipes as “a darkness, a hollowness, a sound as of deepest antiquity [and] a strength of sound.” and that tin pipes embodied the "sound of refinement”. It was published by The American Organist and was cited by organists Jonathan M. Gregoire and Hans Davidsson.[32][33]

1964 Fisk organ in King's Chapel, Boston, Massachusetts (op. 44)

In 1958, Rice University hired the Andover Company to build an organ (op. 25). This is one of the first that Fisk made completely from scratch. Before this project, Fisk only performed repairs and additions to already-built organs. Opus 25 marks the last electric organ Fisk would ever make; all of his later works predominantly use tracker actions. A historical feature he adapted in this organ is the Rückpositiv. Rückpositiv is a smaller section of organ pipes that can be separately played from the larger main pipes. Though Rückpositiv can be easily seen in old organs, they were essentially extinct in the 1960s when the organ was built. It is also known as Andover-Fisk Organ.[14]

His first significant work was constructed in 1961: a two-manual fully mechanical-action organ (op. 35). It was built in Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, with the help of organ builder Dirk Flentrop. Flentrop advised on the design of tonal and mechanical components, while Fisk created the final design, voicing, and construction.[16] The name "Flentrop-Andover" was picked because it was built when Fisk still was the president of the Andover company. Andrew Johnson, an organist at Mount Calvary Church, described the organ as being "clear" and "responsive". He wrote that the organ seems to "shape the player". This organ includes two pedals that can be configured to activate specific stops to achieve a certain tonal quality. This bypasses having to pull the organ stops manually. The special pedals affect the lower register portion(Pedaal division) of the main keyboard(Great).[22]

In 1964, Fisk built the first 3-manual modern mechanical organ in Tremont Street, King's Chapel (op. 44),[8] superseding an E.M. Skinner organ. Organist George Bozeman wrote in The Tracker that it provided a "vivid, rich sound, and a crystalline clarity that reveals the color and texture of each stop".[34] Additionally, William Gatens wrote in American Record Guide that based on the recording, the organ sounded "thin and strident" and felt "dry" compared to Fisk's later works.[35]

Fisk built two of the largest four-manual mechanical action instrument in 20th-century America. The first is a pedal instrument for the Memorial Church of Harvard in 1967 (op. 46).[10] This was a result of Fisk's attempted renovation of E. M. Skinner organ in Appleton Chapel, which was inadequate for the larger Memorial Church. Despite Fisk's efforts, the Skinner organ sounded unbalanced and lacked in bass register. Because of this, it was decided to build a new organ.[36] In 2010, it was later relocated to the Presbyterian church in Austin, Texas.[10] Because the Presbyterian church had taller ceilings, full-length 32 ft(~10m) stops was possible to be installed.[15] Organist Christian Lane said that the control of the wind feels "amazing and voluptuous".[10]

In 1970, Fisk installed a three-manual and pedal organ that was inspired by Silbermann's work at Old West Church, using casework from an early Thomas Appleton organ (op. 55).[3] According to an interview in 1975, this lowered the cost of the organ by not having to build an entirely new casework.[37]

The second of the largest four-manual mechanical action instrument in 20th century America was built in 1979, located at the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, Hope Presbyterian Church.[5]

At the Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh street, New York, a Fisk organ was built in 1981 and was installed in 1983. It weighed 9 tons, cost 300 000 USD, and had 2600 pipes. Like many of his organs, it uses manual trackers than electric ones (op. 83).[38][39]

From 1980 to 1981, a historical baroque organ tuned in mean-tone temperament was recreated and installed in Houghton Chapel of Wellesley College (op. 72).[3] It used reeds copied from historical organs and used historical organ wind systems.[24] More specifically, the Rückpositiv and Brustwerk sections of the organ were recreated from the Friederich Stellwagen organ located in the Jakobikirche church in Lubeck. The four Brustpedal cantus firmus stops were copied from the Compenius organ located in Frederiksborg Castle in Copenhagen.[40] Additionally, it was designed so the air supply can be supplied electrically or through manual pedals. This was the last organ Fisk completed before his death.[41]

In 1981, another organ was planned to be built at Palmer Memorial Church, which is a de facto church of Rice University. Though Fisk was chosen as the builder, he died before the construction so C.B. Fisk, Inc. continued to build the organ. The design commenced in 1989.[14]

In 1984, a 4-manual organ was completed installing at Stanford's Memorial Church after Fisk died (op. 85).[3][42] It was originally commissioned in 1973 but was delayed for 25 years because of issues with finance and logistics. It is the largest organ in the Memorial Church and is named the "Fisk-Nanney" organ, which is a reference to the church's organist, Herbert Nanney. It is designed to accommodate two different tuning systems meantone and equal temperament. There exists a large iron lever above the manuals that allow the organist to switch between the systems.[42] Additionally, Manuel J. Rosales was consulted during the building process.[14] In 1988, musicologist Mark Lindley published an analysis of the organ's tuning system. He found that the organ included tuning discrepancies, with various notes being few cents off from its historical counterparts.[43] (See also: Stanford Memorial Church § Organs)

In 1992, a Fisk organ was installed in Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, Texas. It was originally conceived in 1982, which was when the plans to install an organ for the concert hall were set out. With a tonal design plan completed in 1983, this project was aided by architect I. M. Pei, acoustician Russell Johnson, and visual designer Charles Nazarian. Pei suggested that the brass highlights were added to make the organ fit better with its surroundings. The Resonance division of the organ, which operates at high pressure, was made easier to play using Fisk company's servopneumatic lever mechanism. The organ was well-received by James Moeser, the former president of the American Guild of Organists, who described the organ as "one of the most important organs to have been built in this or any century".[27]