While Sitka is well-renowned for its breathtaking mountains and local fish cuisine, outsiders may not know that it is also the home of the oldest existing organ on the Western side of the Mississippi. Originally manufactured in Estonia in 1844, the Kessler organ was shipped to Sitka in 1846. Nestled in the balcony of the Sitka Lutheran Church, visiting organists over the years have traveled across the country to play it.
On August 5th, organist Edie Hockspeier brought the Kessler’s sounds to life. As she explained to attendees at her first organ recital, Hockspeier’s journey to Sitka began when she was looking for a way to escape the heat of her hometown, Savannah, Georgia.
“So I wrote the Lutheran church to say, I’m going to be there for a month. I’ve already made reservations. If you need someone to play an organ prelude or postlude, you know, I’ll be glad to play,” she said. “And they said, “You’re it, you’re the organist.” She lets out an operatic shout for joy for the news, much to the amusement of the two dozen attendees.
Growing up, Hockspeier was surrounded by music. She studied music education in college and is a skilled pianist. But it wasn’t until she moved to Minneapolis, MN, in 1970 that she was recruited by a local Lutheran church to play their organ. Since then, she found work serving as an organist at churches in the Carolinas and eventually, Georgia. Now she is passing on her knowledge to curious listeners.
Despite her decades of experience, Hockspiere was caught off-guard by a unique characteristic of the Kessler organ: it has no pedals.
“It is a pipe organ. Air is forced through the pipes and makes the sound,” said Hockspeier. “But in a sense, that’s limiting, because most organ music is written for manuals and pedals.”
While the Kessler organ was repaired for fire damage in 1993, it has remained unaltered otherwise, maintaining the original design developed by Ernst Kessler nearly two centuries ago. As a result, Hockspeier was intentional about her song choices.
“I did not want to play any gospel hymns… Or I did not want to play any folk hymns,” she said. “I wanted to play music that Kessler may have heard, because he didn’t just randomly build an organ. He built an organ for this specific church, for the specific purpose of Lutheran worship.”
Hockspeier chose a selection of Lutheran hymns from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The attendees in the pews looked up attentively at Hockspeier as she explains the history of her chosen songs, listening to the music with a quiet focus and serenely closed eyes.
As Hockspeier played on, visiting pastor Jim Lehman listened from beneath the balcony. He said that Hockspeier’s presence is a meaningful opportunity for Sitkan worshippers to listen to the historic organ.
“They love to hear the organ being used in the way it was intended to be used to lead worship and to inspire people to praise God,” he said.
Pr. Lehman said he hopes that people, especially tourists, are able to attend any of the future recitals.
“I think it will give people another dimension to the life that exists here in Sitka,” he said. “There’s a significant faith community throughout this entire town of Sitka that it’s helpful for people to know about that there are Christian communities here that are doing what Christian communities do.”
After around half an hour of music, Hockspeier struck her final chords, at least until her next concert. Next month, she’ll head home, and is eager to bring some of the songs she’s learned in Sitka back to her choir in Georgia. But she hopes to return next summer to escape the Georgia heat and play for Sitkans tunes from their beloved Kessler organ once more.
Hockspeier will perform every Tuesday this August at 12:15pm at the Lutheran church, as well as every Sunday during service.
