Announcing Opus 3
Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders is excited to announce the signing of a contract for our Opus 3, a new organ to be installed at St. Stanislaus Oratory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We look forward to completing the installation in 2027.
St. Stanislaus Oratory is a Roman Catholic church served by the Society of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a society of apostolic life and pontifical right, renowned for its commitment to excellence in sacred music. The rector of the Oratory is the Rev. Canon Benoît Jayr, and the director of sacred music is Christopher Berry.
The organ will feature 50 stops over three manuals and pedal. Its tonal design will draw inspiration from the 18th-century traditions of Hapsburg Europe, while also incorporating Romantic elements that reflect the period of Milwaukee's settlement and growth. The organ’s sound will also honor the legacy of the Caecilian movement, particularly the work of Milwaukee organ builder William Schuelke, who built both the original organ at St. Stanislaus and the first organ at Saint John’s Abbey.
A unique feature of this organ will be the Chorpositiv division in the front and center of the case. This division will be ideally suited to accompanying liturgical chant, and rendering polyphonic textures and repertoire associated with the Low Mass tradition before the Enlightenment. In contrast to the well-tempered main organ, the Chorpositiv division will be tuned in quarter-comma meantone, an historical temperament employing pure major thirds.