Manuel Rosales (organ builder) explained

Manuel Rosales
Birth Name:Manuel J. Rosales, Jr.
Birth Place:New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation:Organ builder

Manuel J. Rosales, Jr., (born 1947 in New York City)[1] is an American organ builder whose instruments display a strong synthesis of romantic and contemporary styles.[2] His workshop has built over 30 pipe organs with his notable output including collaborations on the instruments at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Rice University.[3] [4]

Career

Notable instruments

Rosales achieved notoriety in 1987 with the bold tonal design[5] of his new instrument for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. Built at a cost of $1 million, a substantial figure for an organ at that time,[6] it is considered to be “one of the great organs in the United States”.[7] Two years later, Rosales completed an organ conceived in the early Spanish style for Mission San José,[8] joining a movement of American organ builders who, during the 1980s and 1990s, designed instruments in specific historic styles that embrace the literature of their period.[9]

Notable collaborations

In 1995, Rosales collaborated with the organ building firm of C. B. Fisk in the design and voicing of a 75-stop organ for the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Designed along French classical and romantic lines, its full ensemble is intended to evoke the powerful and fiery tone found in the works of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

Rosales consulted on the organ for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, working for two years with architect Frank Gehry to arrive at a solution that would integrate Gehry's sculptural vision of an explosion of pipework with the musical requirements for a functional organ. Later, Glatter-Götz Orgelbau company of Owingen, Germany, built the instrument and installed it in 2004, with Rosales completing the finishing and voicing process later that year.[10]

Indiana University and bankruptcy

In 1992, Indiana University contracted with Rosales to build an organ for the then-unbuilt Ione B. Auer Hall at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.[11] Then-chairman of the organ department at Indiana University, Larry Smith, chose Rosales to build the instrument because he was "uniquely talented" and, at the time, he was considered to be the "premier craftsman of organs" in the United States.[12]

The organ was expected to be completed by 1997, however, Rosales "stray[ed] too far from the task", missed deadlines and did not physically install the organ at the university until 2001. Following delivery, the organ was discovered to contain profound design and mechanical flaws[13] rendering the instrument an "overgrown jungle of trackers and howling ciphers" that failed to conform to the specifications of the contract.

Indiana University paid $750,000 to Rosales for the contract. However, in 2004, Indiana University, unable to sue Rosales due to an arbitration clause in the contract, initiated arbitration, claiming 2 million dollars in damages. Under mounting pressure from the university, Rosales' firm, Rosales Organ Builders, Inc., filed for bankruptcy in February 2005 and did not complete the instrument.[14]

In 2007, the university reached the final stages of negotiations with the organ builder C. B. Fisk to transform and rebuild the instrument originally built by Rosales. The original case surrounding the organ was retained with minor modifications and the entire instrument was moved backward against the rear wall and extended upward to improve acoustical response. Installation of the Fisk organ began in June 2009 followed by a series of dedication recitals performed in April and May 2010.[15] [16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography of Manuel J. Rosales . 2012-10-18 . Rosales . Manuel . Rosales Pipe Organ Services, Inc. . https://web.archive.org/web/20091107051034/http://www.rosales.com/biography/biomjr.htm . 2009-11-07.
  2. Book: Bicknell, Stephen . Thistlethwaite . Nicholas . Webber . Geoffrey . The Cambridge Companion to the Organ . . 2012-10-17 . 1999-03-04 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-57584-3 . 87 . Organ building today . ...Rosales...confidently celebrates aspects of the romantic tradition....the appearance of strong romantic and contemporary influence in the work of Rosales or van den Heuvel is notable, as is the relaxation of the neo-classical rule that only mechanical action is acceptable..
  3. Web site: Instruments . 2012-10-18 . Rosales Pipe Organ Services, Inc. . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715203925/http://www.rosales.com/instruments/index.htm . 2011-07-15.
  4. Book: Whitney, Craig . All The Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ And Its American Masters . 2012-10-17 . 2004-09-15 . PublicAffairs . New York City . 978-0-7867-4025-3 . 238 . Back to the Future . ...a seventy-five-stop organ combining French classical and romantic sounds, much as Caville-Coll had done at St. Sulpice, ...Rosales remained involved as collaborator and co-voicer...the sound of full organ was designed to be equally fiery and powerful in tone..
  5. Rosales, Opus 11 . The American Organist . 1995-10-01 . Joseph . Adam . ...undeniably beautiful but solid....
  6. Clefnotes: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral marks 25th anniversary of Rosales organ . The Oregonian . 2012-08-13 . David . Stabler . 2012-10-18 . The city's first $1 million instrument did not disappoint, filling the cathedral with glorious, reedy sound....
  7. News: Tom . D'Antoni . Organist Catherine Crozier . 2008-05-01 . . Oregon Art Beat . 2012-10-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091106071108/http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/segments/view/364 . 2009-11-06 . ...[Catherine Crozier] plays the mighty Rosales, one of the great organs in the United States..
  8. Web site: Mission San José . 2012-10-18 . Rosales Pipe Organ Services, Inc. . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715202837/http://www.rosales.com/instruments/op14/index.htm . 2011-07-15.
  9. Book: Reed, Douglas . Thistlethwaite . Nicholas . Webber . Geoffrey . The Cambridge Companion to the Organ . 2012-10-17 . 1999-03-04 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-57584-3 . 310 . North American organ music after 1800 . During the 1980s and 90s, several other American builders (...Rosales...) built instruments in specific styles (e.g., early Spanish,...) in an attempt to better illuminate the historic organ repertoire..
  10. News: Whitney . Craig R. . Pipes Askew, It Still Needs to Sing . . 2004-05-11 . Frank wanted it to look unlike any other organ you'd ever seen, said its creator, Manuel J. Rosales....Now Mr. Rosales is trying to make it sound unlike any other organ you've ever heard. And that is an acoustical and engineering challenge as formidable as any organ maker has faced..
  11. Cover Feature: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Dedicates C.B. Fisk, Opus 135 . The American Organist . 2010-07-01 . Young . Christopher . 44 . 7 . 34–37 . PDF . 2019-01-17 .
  12. News: Sauers . Elisha . After 13 years, IU School of Music still waiting to play $750,000 organ . . 2005-10-04 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190117061024/https://www.idsnews.com/article/2005/10/silenced-sounds . 2019-01-17 . 2019-01-17 . The pipe organ, with its unassembled parts amounting to more than $750,000, has never fired a single note from the barrels of its flutes..
  13. Web site: disaster - organ, Indiana University Rosales Organ disaster, Opus 27, Indiana University . Sinden . David . David Sinden Blog . 2005-10-09 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160912050757/http://blog.sinden.org/2005/10/disaster-organ-indiana-university.html . 2016-09-12 . As part of my Organ Construction and Design course at IU, we will be hacking through the overgrown jungle of trackers and howling ciphers that is Rosales's Opus 27. I am looking forward to this and hope to photographically document profound design flaws in their natural habitat. .
  14. News: Graham . Andy . IU finds builder to complete organ project for Auer Hall . . Bloomington . 2007-05-05 . IU announced Friday that it is in final negotiations with C.B. Fisk Inc. of Gloucester, Mass., to transform the Auer Hall organ — originally conceived by organ builder Manuel Rosales, who was unable to complete its construction — into a Fisk organ, Opus 135..
  15. Web site: C.B. Fisk Organ Moves Into Auer Hall . Wood . David . Indiana News Desk . Indiana Public Media . 2009-06-10 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100102061311/https://indianapublicmedia.org/arts/cb-fisk-organ-moves-auer-hall/ . 2010-01-02 . 2019-01-21 . Students and faculty as well as workers from organ builder C.B. Fisk all took part in unloading and carrying the many pieces of what will eventually come together as the new Auer Hall organ..
  16. News: IU Jacobs School of Music prepares to dedicate Seward organ . Jacobs School of Music . Bloomington . . 2010-04-01 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150914235906/http://info.music.indiana.edu/web/page/normal/13959.html . 2015-09-14 . 2019-01-21 . A gala concert dedicating the new Maidee H. and Jackson A. Seward Organ, planned for ... April 30 ... May 1 ... May 2... .

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