Opus 37

This small practice instrument was built at the request of Melville Smith, then organ instructor at Wellesley College, who died suddenly just before the organ was installed. Charles Fisk wrote: “I am so terribly sorry that he will not be able to use the only organ I was ever able to build for him.” Smith was not only a strong supporter of Charles Fisk’s work, but one who had a significant influence on his musical tastes.

This organ became a prototype for seven other instruments built in substantially the same style in in later years:

Opus 47, 1965 for Boston University School of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Opus 48, 1965 for St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Greencastle, Indiana
Opus 48a, 1965 for DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
Opus 59, 1969 for North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Opus 59a, 1970 for Frank Taylor’s Residence, Newton, Massachusetts
Opus 77, 1978 for Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Opus 77a, 1978 for St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia

The pages for these instruments detail the differences in their specifications as they evolved and were built to suit their owners, and updates in their locations.

After many years of service at Wellesley College, Opus 37 was purchased for a private residence.