Wanted, one crate of lions : the life and legacy of Charles W. McManis, organbuilder / by Charles McManis ; edited by Judith F. McManis.
| Author/creator | McManis, Charles W. |
| Other author | McManis, Judith F., editor. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Richmond, VA : Organ Historical Society, ©2008. |
| Description | ix, 413 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Subjects |
| Portion of title | Life and legacy of Charles W. McManis, organbuilder |
| Variant title | Subtitle on cover: Life and legacy of Charles W. McManis, organbuilder : an autobiography |
| Contents | Introduction: Why a crate of lions? -- Part I. Organbuilding in the blood. Chapter 1: Formative years. Childhood imagination ; Rail tales ; Far-away places ; Explorations ; School days ; A $20 vote of confidence ; Hanging out my shingle -- Chapter 2: World War II. Basic training: Camp Roberts ; The common denominator ; Fort Lewis ; The Queen Mary ; An English Christmas ; Camp lucky strike ; Saint Ouen, Rouen ; Forty men or eight horses ; Chalon-sur-Marne ; The chapel ; Epernay ; Paris after V-E Day ; Trip to Germany ; Observations and concrete ; Waldheim and Ludwigsburg ; Bridges crossed but once ; European adventures ; Homeward bound -- Chapter 3: Post-war life and work. When we were all married ; Back in business: organs through 1949 -- Part II. Organbuilding in the world. Chapter 4: Decade of organbuilding, 1950-1959. The lay of the land ; Learning more: Business strategy ; Learning more: Foreign study ; Learning more: Otto Meyer ; Goat-horns and other conical pipe-types ; De-Mollerizing and other revoicings ; Major rebuilds: the ultimate classroom ; New organs: 1950-1959 ; I didn't know the Lord was an organbuilder -- Chapter 5: Decade of organbuilding, 1960-1969. Historic organ encounters ; Larger organs ; Smaller organs ; Residence organs ; Trackers ; Shop enlargement -- Chapter 6: Decade of organbuilding, 1970-1979. Trackers ; Larger organs ; Smaller organs ; Rebuilds -- Chapter 7: Decade of organbuilding, 1980-1986+. New organs ; Rebuilds -- Chapter 8: Decade of organbuilding, 1990-1999. Organbuilding without a shop ; Keeping busy during retirement ; The end of organbuilding for Charles McManis -- Part III. Organbuilding wisdom. Introduction ; Mutterings of a G.I. organist ; Two letters from T. Scott Burhman ; The American Organist ; APOBA ; "One by Frank Roosevelt" ; "Too much composer: not enough music" ; "Of vocal chords and songbooks" ; The small organ (Forward ; Acoustics ; Placement of the organ ; Tonal design ; Voicing) ; "Contemporary vs. neo-classic" ; Advertising ; A.I.O. ; More advertising ; "Where do we go from here?" ; Editorial: Jonathan Ambrosino ; "Sacred objects" -- Part IV. Voicing. Early pipe-making ; "Builder's two-manual designs stress tone and mechanism" ; Tonal design, voicing, and a philosophy of organbuilding ; RLDS revoicing ; "Flue-pipe voicing: Tools, techniques and history" ; Voicing at Schoenstein ; AIO midwinter flue-pipe voicing seminar (Glossary of terms ; Musical terms ; Tools & tuning devices ; Organbuilding history & historicity ; Voicing techniques, nicking and regulation) ; Flue-pipe voicing, 1998 ; Voicing flue-pipes ; Voicing vonical pipes of all types -- Appendixes. I. McManis jobs/opus list ; II. McManis stoplists -- The McManis Sound. Notes about the recording. |
| Abstract | As one of twentieth-century America's most important organbuilders, Charles McManis had few peers. But the telling of his story also introduces us in quite a personal way to what it was like growing up in the early part of the century. His place as one of the "greatest generation" comes out of a unique World War II experience, one that was documented through numerous letters carefully kept by family members. And then there is that great body of work--more than seven decades of it--all described in a mix of technical precision and personal passion for organ tone and what it could do for the human soul. Charles was a gifted writer. Although he was accustomed to expressing himself in the third person for articles in the trade journals over the years, this book is in first person, and one can almost hear his voice, giving witness to his humor, occasional frustration, and genuine joy when things turned out as he had hoped. This story is definitely not the esoteric mumblings of an ivory-tower genius. Charles may have lived and breathed organs, but his life was full of interesting adventures, great friendships, and personal integrity. |
| General note | Includes lists of McManis installations and stoplists. |
| General note | An accompanying sound recording issued in an earlier edition was not included in this publication, although the contents of that recording are given on pages 411-413. |
| Bibliography note | Includes indexes. |
| LCCN | 2012563315 |