BOSTON (WHDH) - A historic moment played out at Boston’s oldest church Tuesday as one man marked what he believes is his 100th tuning of the church’s historic pipe organ.
The pipe organ at Old North Church has been making music at services for nearly three centuries. Organ tuner Stefan Maier has been keeping the instrument in tune for the past 25 years.
“Every organ is a custom instrument,” Maier told 7NEWS. “So, they’re always special.”
The Old North Church pipe organ was built in 1759 and has gone through many renditions over the decades, according to Maier.
While it has been rebuilt “a number of times,” Maier said the organ still has some original parts.
The process of re-tuning the organ takes three to four hours, requiring Maier to climb inside the organ to search for pipes that need to be adjusted.
“You have to fast for three days to be able to get in,” Maier said. “And then, basically, there are between probably around 1500 hundred pipes in there.”
“We don’t tune them all,” Maier said. “We don’t have to tune them all but we have to find the ones that are out of tune and then adjust them.”
Maier continued, saying he is happy just to be part of the organ’s storied history.
“It was built in the spirit of 1759 but adapted to the 19th and 20th century music and the church’s use,” Maier said.
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