Gabriel Kney Explained

Gabriel Kney (21 November 1929 – 8 November 2024) was a Canadian builder of pipe organs based in London, Ontario.

Life and career

Kney was born in Speyer, Germany. At the age of 15, he apprenticed to Paul Sattel of Speyer to become an organ builder, and concurrently studied organ and composition with Erhard Quack and Ludwig Doerr at the Bishop’s Institute for Church Music in Speyer.

In 1951, he moved to Canada to work as a voicer with the Keates Organ Co.[1] [2]

In 1955 he formed with John Bright the Kney and Bright Organ Co to build tracker organs. Blanton (1957) described their first instrument as "a handsome little organ with mechanical action, slider chests, 1-3/4" pressure".[3] They were at the vanguard of the tracker organ revival in Canada, so much so that they were then to build 30 electro-pneumatic organs before customers caught on and started ordering instruments with mechanical action. In the early 1960s, they rebuilt the organs of Aeolian Hall in London and St Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.

In 1967, Kney formed Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd., and by 1990 he and his seven employees had built more than 130 organs for customers across the United States and Canada. Some of the best examples of this company's designs are the organs of Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario,[4] Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City,[5] Christ Church Parish in Pensacola, Florida,[6] and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.[7] [8]

Kney died on 8 November 2024, at the age of 94.[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia: Kney, Gabriel . Bouchard . Antoine . Graham, Melva . Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . 19 April 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060502171434/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0001863 . 2 May 2006 .
  2. Web site: Organs in Ames Churches . Ames Historical Society . 20 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120208170601/http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/organ/churches.htm . 8 February 2012 . dead.
  3. Book: Blanton, Joseph E. . The organ in church design . Venture Press. Albany Tx. 1957. 431.
  4. Web site: Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ, Opus 95, 1981 . Komisaruk . Kevin . 2005 . The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall . 19 April 2008 .
  5. Web site: About the Cathedral's organ . Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral . 19 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110707120448/http://www.ghtc-kc.org/music/organ.html . 7 July 2011 . dead.
  6. Web site: Christ Church (Episcopal) . American Guild of Organists - Pensacola Chapter . 20 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125348/http://www.pensacola-ago.org/organs/ccpns.html . 4 March 2016 . dead.
  7. Web site: Gabriel Kney · Opus 105 . University of St. Thomas . 19 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131103181651/https://www.stthomas.edu/music/organs/kney/kney_gallery.html . 3 November 2013 . dead.
  8. Web site: 1987 Kney organ at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN . American Public Media . 19 April 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080821192423/http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/gallery/us_midwest/minnesota/stpaul_stthomaskney.shtml . 21 August 2008.
  9. News: Gabriel Kney dead at 94 . 23 November 2024 . The Diapason.

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