Music for Millionaires: The Residence Organ in the Gilded Age

Troy Simmons, architectural historian for the Archdiocese of Newark, will discuss “Music for Millionaires: The Residence Organ of the Gilded Age” on Sunday, May 2, at the College at Florham. This look at the lifestyles and music of the wealthy in the early 20th century begins at 3 p.m. in Hennessy Hall, once owned by Florence Vanderbilt Twombly and Hamilton Twombly. Admission is $25 at the door, and refreshments will be served following the lecture.

Simmons has served in dual positions of architectural historian and director of patrimony to the Archdiocese of Newark for the past four years. He is also an associate director of development for the archdiocese and teaches in the Historic Preservation Program at Drew University.

The Vanderbilt-Twombly mansion became the home to an Aeolian pipe organ Opus 1428, purchased by Florence Twombly in late 1918. It was installed in June 1919 in the Great Hall of Florham, next to the ballroom. The organ quickly became an integral part of Twombly’s entertainment lifestyle, and her guests were treated to recitals on Sunday evenings by Archer Gibson, one of the most well-known organists in the United States at the time, according to Carol Bere, a member of Friends of Florham, sponsors of this lecture. Residence organs were mainly the province of very rich, whose large mansions could accommodate the instruments. The organs were essentially music chambers that could mimic the sounds of church, concert or theater organs, and even the music of dance bands in the 1920s.

Robert Taylor, current owner of a 1913 Aeolian pipe organ Opus 1280, which was originally purchased by Helen Gould Shepard, the daughter of financier Jay Gould, describes the substantial impact of the residence organ: “Bringing the finest musical entertainment to the home, Aeolian found a niche among the wealthiest people. Not only did the residence organ prove status, it also provided home music that otherwise was unavailable. The music on the Aeolian Player Rolls covered a broad spectrum of tastes, and thus, no patron, nor his money, was excluded.”

For more information go to http://inside.fdu.edu/prpt/florhamorgan.html .

The Friends of Florham, formed in 1990, is an organization of area residents whose goal is to advise and assist the University in the care, maintenance and historic preservation of the historically important buildings and grounds of the College at Florham.