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eiriasFire at St. Raphael's
The church where my friend Sig plays the organ caught fire this morning. Graham and I saw the smoke as we rode by this morning on our way to the gym. The roof has collapsed; they're working on preventing the bell tower from falling. Thankfully, no one has been injured.
I can't decide what makes me the saddest about this:
- wondering whether this means Sig's job is at risk;
- the likely damage to the organ Sig plays on - I mean, it's never been the world's best organ, but it's a terrible thing to lose your instrument;
- the fact that Sig is in France studying with a master organist and will have this news to come home to;
- the heartbreak of a small community of people losing their church two weeks before Easter;
- the fact that the church is a Madison landmark;
- the fact that they just cleaned and repaired the steeple last summer, to the tune of $1,000,000.
The church where my friend Sig plays the organ caught fire this morning. Graham and I saw the smoke as we rode by this morning on our way to the gym. The roof has collapsed; they're working on preventing the bell tower from falling. Thankfully, no one has been injured.
I can't decide what makes me the saddest about this:
- wondering whether this means Sig's job is at risk;
- the likely damage to the organ Sig plays on - I mean, it's never been the world's best organ, but it's a terrible thing to lose your instrument;
- the fact that Sig is in France studying with a master organist and will have this news to come home to;
- the heartbreak of a small community of people losing their church two weeks before Easter;
- the fact that the church is a Madison landmark;
- the fact that they just cleaned and repaired the steeple last summer, to the tune of $1,000,000.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-14 04:46 pm (UTC)I mean, it's all terrible of course, but it's that last one that adds that extra bit of hurt that just makes you cringe.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-14 05:09 pm (UTC)What I wonder is: Will they get a new organ when they rebuild? Or might they decide to do without? (I don't know enough about churches to know if that's an obvious one)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-14 05:32 pm (UTC)Organs are *expensive*. The good ones have like six thousand different pipes.
Sig is a talented and well-credentialed organist, so I'm confident that she'll be able to find another job if/when it comes to that. But it's still awful.
Looking at the most recent photos, there's no way this organ is at all intact - it was up near the roof and the roof is just gone; even if the instrument somehow survived the fire and smoke, I very much doubt it survived the water. :/
(I wonder if there's any leg work that amateurs will be able to do to help with the restoration? I'm thinking it might make a good APO project if so.)