2010 Honor Choir Performance Venues

Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square

After four years of planning and building, the Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square held its first service on March 27, 1859. Scottish-born architect John Knotman designed and built the church in the Norman style. This style expressed the low-church tradition favored by the founders, avoiding Gothic influences.

The Mercer tiles on the aisle and chancel floors, installed in the late 19th century, reflect the arts and crafts movement of the time. The fine collection of altar silver is displayed each Trinity Sunday (eight weeks after Easter). On the occasion of the dedication of the church on Easter Day 1859, a matched set of sterling altar silver was presented. The set consists of two silver chalices, four footed patens and a bread knife. The magnificent carved pulpit in the church was commissioned to commemorate Reverend Phillips Brooks’ ministry, and a measure of his fame as a preacher is indicated by the dedication carved into the base. It reads, “He Being Dead Yet Speaketh.”

The parish’s second rector, the Rev. Brooks, was a noted preacher of the 19th century. His years in Philadelphia provided the basis for the development of his pastoral and theological style and saw his rise to national prominence. They were tumultuous and momentous years in the nation’s life, especially the Civil War years of 1861-65.

On a more peaceful note, these years also saw the writing of what would become one of the best-loved Christmas carols, the first written in English by a native-born American, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  Rev. Brooks penned the words while on a trip to the Holy Land. The triptych on the wall behind the altar, installed in 1942, pays homage to this event. Lewis Redner, the parish’s organist at that time, composed the tune now known as “St. Louis” to which it is sung. This carol has become one of the favorite of all Christmas carols and is sung every year at Holy Trinity during the Christmas season.

Carved into the side panels of the pulpit are the three overlapping circles that symbolize the Holy Trinity; this sign has been adopted by the church for its logo and appears on the glass doors at the entrance as well as in other locations. Featuring the four Evangelists, the pulpit was installed in 1897 as a memorial to Bishop Brooks. The church owns a set of four altar frontals (white, green, red, and purple) heavily embroidered in the Victorian style that were made by J. Wippell and Company, Church Furnishers, in around 1920. The same company restored all four recently and they are now in use regularly as the liturgical season dictates. New hangings and Eucharistic vestments were made to match and are also used regularly.

The carillon in the church tower was made by the Van Aerschodt foundry of Severin, Belgium, and has 25 chiming bells. It was the generous gift of Joseph Temple in memory of his wife Martha Anna Kirtley Temple. The carillon was installed and rung for the first time to welcome the General Convention of the Episcopal Church meeting at the church on October 3, 1883, and is the oldest manually operated carillon on the North American Continent. It plays a brief recital at 12:00 noon and 6:00 p.m. daily and in addition plays on Sundays at 10:45 a.m. and is rung by guest carrillonneurs monthly during the summer. The carillon was restored and a new mechanism installed in 1999 thanks chiefly to a generous gift by Emilie DeHellebranth.

The organ currently in the church is the fifth instrument to occupy the church gallery. The beautiful polished case with gold-leafed pipes that is visible in the gallery and much admired is actually the case from the Roosevelt instrument of 1881, of which only a few ranks of pipes survive. The major parts of the instrument were replaced in 1960 in a rebuild by the M. P. Moller Organ Company. The current instrument is now in the process of restoration.

The beautiful stained glass from English, French and American studios including five by Tiffany and one by Luc Olivier Merson. Brochures allow visitors to conduct a self-guided tour of these splendid works.

Wanamaker Organ (at Macy’s)

John Wanamaker founded his famous department store in 1861.  It was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States. Throughout the store’s life as “Wanamaker’s”, it was renowned for its honest reputation and for innovating many retailing firsts in America. At the end of the 20th century, Wanamaker’s was sold, and is now known as Macy's - Center City.

A music lover, John Wanamaker believed in music’s civic significance and looked upon his great store as a means of spreading musical inspiration and enjoyment. In 1909, he purchased the pipe organ from the St. Louis World’s Fair (known at the time as the world’s largest organ) for the store. Thirteen freight cars were required to ship the entire organ from St. Louis, and installation in the Grand Court took two years.

Despite the organ’s immense size, the tone was judged inadequate to fill the Grand Court. Wanamaker then opened a private pipe-organ factory in the store’s attic, and employed 40 full-time employees to enlarge the instrument with the original faculty supervisor, William Boone Fleming, directing the work. In its enlarged state, organ recitals and special events have now entertained shoppers and guests for 100 years. Currently, three organ recitals take place daily.  

The Wanamaker Organ, famed for the delicate, orchestra-like beauty of its tone as well as its incredible power, is now known as the largest operational pipe organ in the world, with some 28,500 pipes. The console includes six ivory keyboards and 729 color-coded stop tablets. There are 168 piston buttons under the keyboards and 42 foot controls. The console weighs 2.5 tons; the entire instrument weighs 287 tons.

Wanamaker's, along with its famous organ, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The organ is assessed with a value of  $57 million.

Independence Mall

For Americans, there are no more potent symbols of individual freedom than Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Since 1951, these sites have been maintained by the American people as part of Independence National Historical Park.

The park includes three square blocks in the City of Philadelphia, and includes Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell Pavilion, and the Independence Visitor’s Center. The mall is bordered on the opposite side by the National Constitution Center. Within this small space, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written. Here, from 1790 to 1800, when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital, the principle of governance based on the rights of individual citizens was first tested.

Independence National Historical Park is many things to many people. It is, of course, as it was intended to be, a national shrine. The events that took place here two centuries ago, and the buildings and objects associated with them, are what attract visitors from every state in the Union and almost every country around the globe. It is a place to be reminded of the ideals that formed the basis for the founding of the United States, and on which its continued survival depends. As visitors tour the park, they are made aware that the formation of this nation was the work of men and women, imperfect like themselves, who transcended their faults and foibles to create an enduring democracy, the oldest in the world and a model for freedom everywhere.

Independence today looks serene and beautiful. Rosy-red brick buildings sit amid green lawns, criss-crossed by neat brick and cobbled paths. Trees shade well-tended gardens. The setting looks immutable and inevitable, as if this is the way is has always been and was meant to be. Yet the appearance is deceiving. Independence National Historical Park is, in fact, the product of over 300 years of change and over 60 years of unremitting effort and debate, some of it far from peaceful.

Honor Choir General Information

 

Last revised June 26, 2010

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