Earl L. Miller - Are Bartholomay Organs Infamous or Forgotten? (2025)

All that remains of the firm F. A. Bartholomay & Sons is a faded and peeling sign on the old school building it occupied in Philadelphia from 1922 until it closed in 1954. Historians know little about the company, other than it seems to have excelled in ruining old organs. In 1930, the firm built a completely new two manual, 19-rank electropneumatic organ, Opus 149, for the chancel of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Richmond, Virginia. (In 1983, Taylor & Boody completed their superb Opus 7 in the rear gallery of the church.) The Bartholomay had not been maintained, or even tuned (although the church used it every week), in at least a decade when Earl Miller (1946-1989) first saw and heard it, zephyrs of wind and gales of cyphers pealing forth. With his and the church's encouragement, volunteers gave the organ many months of glorified maintenance. When Earl heard it again, nearly a year later, he launched into an impromptu concert of inspired, delightful music making. Raven was there. Hear what turned out to be a fine symphonic organ demonstrated by a master of the style. Extensive notes on the organ and the builders in the CD booklet. The Bartholomay organ was removed in favor of air conditioning in 1983.