The second performance I watched at the VSO music festival was a silent film with a live organ accompaniment. As entertaining as the silent film was, the focus of the show was the organ. According to Dirk, the Orpheum is the last installation in Canada left with an originally-preserved organ. The organ has been built into the Orpheum since its opening night in 1927, but it is important to note that it does not appear on the stage at all times. This is because the organ actually stays in the basement, and rises to the Orpheum stage by a hydraulic press. Once turned on, a “blower” in the basement feeds wind through the chambers, giving 949 pipes in the left and right chambers the wind pressure to produce sound. With the many rows of keys, buttons, and pedals in the organ, there are a multitude of noises and sounds it can produce. In the left chamber, there are about 600 pipes that provide the accompaniment. In the right chambers, it will provide the noises that would be associated with a “solo”. Therefore, it would produce noises such as the tuba, oboe, trumpet, drums, etc. The organ can also provide other peculiar noises such as bells, percussion, car horns, train whistles, and bird chirps.
The organ accompanied Laurel & Hardy’s silent film “The Second Hundred Years”. After the performance, I watched the film on YouTube to compare the organ accompaniment. Although the melodies were similar, there were some noticeable differences. For instance, the live accompaniment at the VSO festival provided “noises” for different actions in the film such as sneezes and spitting. For actions such as squatting, the organ would alternate between high and low voices to show the positions of the characters’ squat (if it is high or low). These noises would be accented notes that did not fit in with the melody to accentuate the characters’ actions. Granted, performers have had about 80 years to perfect the nuances of the score, but it nonetheless made the film more enjoyable than it already is.
The other noticeable difference was the themes that Dirk incorporated into the score. In the original film, the melody seemed to be seamless, as if the different themes were in a mixing pot and melted together. In comparison, Dirk used already familiar themes to the audience for certain moments. In one instance, when a couple of prisoners dug themselves out of their cell and up into the room of the warden, Dirk would play the theme from “Pop Goes the Weasel”. Another example was Handel’s “Hallelujah” theme being played once the prisoners finally escaped the prison. My personal favourite was the “Hockey Night in Canada” theme being played when one of the characters ran around the room attempting to scoop a grape with a fork. It was an excellent utilization of leitmotifs, as the audience was able to draw a greater connection to the scenes from the already-familiar themes.
Overall Dirk’s performance was a needed reminder of the entertainment from a century ago. Although he incorporated modern elements into the score, the use of an organ as a live accompaniment to a film is something that is not readily accessible to most people. Because of this performance, we are able to connect historically to a previous culture, while also appreciating the different “bells & whistles” an instrument such as the organ possesses.