From left: Justin Berg, Ad Wammes, Craig Crammer, Hal Gober take photo after the premiere. [Photo provided to China Daily]
An educator and musician based in Ningbo missed playing the organ so much that he shipped a 60-year-old example all the way from his native US to Zhejiang province
The pipe organ that graces Tianyi Catholic Church in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, is the pride and joy of Justin Berg. But much more than that, it's a testament to how old treasures threatened by what often seems like overwhelming progress can survive to bring pleasure to people in another time and place.
The first thing to know about this organ is that it was built by the Hinners Organ Company of Pekin, Illinois, 110 years ago. Hinners had a thriving business making reed and pipe organs and selling them to churches and theaters throughout the United States. However, faced with technological changes and increasingly stiff competition in the wake of the Great Depression, its business declined and the company disappeared in 1942.
It is unclear where the Ningbo organ first did service, but it eventually fell into the hands of St. James Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was consecrated in 1958. However, like the organ maker, St. James Church would eventually confront the winds of change, and last May, as part of a reorganization, the church was demolished after the land on which it stood was sold for redevelopment.
That left a question mark over what would become of the graceful old organ, with its 799 pipes, two keyboards, one pedalboard and 14 stops, whose music had filled the ears of St. James churchgoers for the better part of 60 years. One possibility was that it would simply be demolished with the church.
Justin Berg is studying for a PhD in applied linguistics at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and has worked as an English teacher for high schools in Ningbo.
Berg, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, has played pipe organs for more than 30 years, and since he first went to Ningbo in 2008 he has been keen for the city to have an organ of its own.
Over the years, Berg talked with various churches and district governments about the matter most close to his heart - and one that was obviously driving him to distraction. Asked how he managed to practice when there was no organ in the city, he said: "I practiced in my mind."
Yes, the city should have an organ of its own, he felt.
"It wouldn't be just for me. I may leave one day, but the organ would stay."
Having a pipe organ is "kind of like having a child", Berg told US newspaper Portsmouth Herald.
"You know, as an organist you have to go to your instrument. You don't have the luxury that, let's say, a trumpet player would have or a flutist, where they can take their instrument with them."
So when Berg saw an online posting, saying the organ was available, he began making inquiries.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
"The priest at that church said to me: 'If you want this you have three weeks to come and get it,'" Berg said.
Not only that, but Berg would not have to pay the church a penny for the organ.
"So there was a mad dash to try and find a builder in the States who could dismantle and pack it and get the insurance for us and all those kind of things. We did find somebody and he was able to do it in three weeks."
In October the disassembled organ arrived in Ningbo in a manner befitting the maritime setting and importance of both its old and its new homes: a sea voyage lasting 39 days.
Berg would then face the arduous and intricate task of rebuilding the organ, something that took him and a master builder 22 days to complete, working 18 hours a day.
"There are no two organs that are alike", Berg said. "Rebuilding an organ is like a journey of discovery; you never know what sound it will produce."
The rebuilt organ is 4 meters high, 5 meters wide and 3.5 meters deep, the front pipes painted light green and orange, and the top painted gold.
When the organ arrived in Ningbo, there were 799 pipes, and an extra one was added to make it 800, a lucky number in many circles.
"The organ should not be just old, or religious, it should also be international, and be Chinese," Berg said.
Just how little is known of the organ and its music in China was illustrated when Berg and his partners were rebuilding the organ in Tianyi Catholic Church.
People were asking "What are these pipes?" Berg said.
'They're organ pipes," Berg replied, using the Chinese word guanfengqin.
"Guanfengqin? Is that a sort of guqin?" one of the onlookers asked, referring to the traditional Chinese instrument.
And yet the church organ is not entirely uncommon or new to China. The Pipe Organ in China Project, established by Professor David Francis Urrows at the Hong Kong Baptist University 30 years ago, estimates that 31 cities on the Chinese mainland have pipe organs, holders of a tradition that began when the first pipe organ appeared in 1611 in Beijing.
Now Ningbo has a mechanical pipe organ that it can call its own, and when it made its debut on Oct 28, more than 600 people attended the concert, a turnout that pleasantly surprised Berg.
"When the opportunity finally came through to have the instrument here I didn't quite believe it at first," Berg told the paper. "I thought this is a little too good to be true and held my breath right up until the time that the dedication concert was played."
For the premier performance Berg invited the Dutch composer Ad Wammes to write a piece reflecting the literal meaning of Ningbo, peaceful waves, for the new organ.
"Justin explained the meaning of Ningbo to me, and explained what he wanted," Wammes said, and that inspired the composition Peaceful Waves.
"After the concert, about 50 people wanted to take pictures with me, my wife and Craig," said Wammes, visiting China for the first time, accompanied by his wife, and referring to Craig Crammer, professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame, who was also invited to play the organ at the premier.
The tremendous reception had made him feel like one of the Beatles, Wammes said.
An audio and video recording of Peaceful Waves is currently being produced and will be published online, and Berg is now looking for composers who can combine Chinese instruments such as the erhu with the pipe organ for a concert to be held in April.
"Two cultures can meet at this very old instrument," Berg said.
Born and bred in Michigan, Berg has a natural attachment to waterways, and Ningbo has become a second home for him. Now that his adopted city finally has its organ, his head is no longer his sole practice room, and life is a little more complete.
